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

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

One's god dictates the kind of law one implements and also controls the application and development of that law over time. Given enough time, all non-Christian systems of law self-destruct in a fit of tyranny.

I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.

Your love of liberty -- your respect for the laws -- your habits of industry -- and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.