War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.

A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained.

The most common and durable source of faction has been the various and unequal distribution of property.

A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.

The house of representatives ... can make no law, which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interest, and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny.

if the people are to be our governors, they must arm themselves with knowledge.

Every word of [the Constitution] decides a question between power and liberty.