We should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence . . . the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake.

Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your promise.

To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.

I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares.

I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.

While just government protects all in their religious rites, true religion affords government its surest support.