I flatter myself [we] have in this country extinguished forever the ambitious hope of making laws for the human mind.

If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?

An efficient militia is authorized and contemplated by the Constitution and required by the spirit and safety of free government.

Truth [comes only] from those ... who cultivate their reason.

[The public has] the habit now of invalidating opinions emanating from me by reference to my age and infirmities.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.