I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an office.

We must take care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, in a respectable defensive posture.

To secure respect to a neutral flag requires a naval force organized and ready to vindicate it from insult or aggression.

My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.

If we cannot learn wisdom from experience, it is hard to say where it is to be found.

We are not to expect perfection in this world; but mankind, in modern times, have apparently made some progress in the science of government.