What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? 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.

From the the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results.

The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.

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

Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are among the chief blessings of civil society.

The infant periods of most nations are buried in silence or veiled in fable; and the world perhaps has lost but little which it needs regret. The origin and outset of the American Republic contain lessons of which posterity ought not to be deprived: and happily there never was a case in which every interesting incident could be so accurately preserved.

The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man.