The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.

If the newspapers are useful in overthrowing tyrants, it is only to establish a tyranny of their own.

I've heard it said that there are men who read in books to convince themselves there is a God. I know not but man may so deform his works in the settlements, as to leave that which is so clear in the wilderness a matter of doubt among traders and priests.

Candor is a proof of both a just frame of mind, and of a good tone of breeding. It is a quality that belongs equally to the honest man and to the gentleman.

It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

I do not pretend that all that white men do is properly Christianized.

The press, like fire, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.