A standing army is one of the greatest mischief that can possibly happen.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

If men were angels, there would be no need of government.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.

I go by the great republican principle, that the people will have the virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom [to the offices of government].

They can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society.