It is a misfortune, inseparable from human affairs, that public measures are rarely investigated with that spirit of moderation which is essential to a just estimate of their real tendency to advance or obstruct the public good; and that this spirit is more apt to be diminished than prompted, by those occasions which require an unusual exercise of it.

The express authority of the people alone could give validity to the Constitution.

At first view it might seem not to square with the republican theory, to suppose either that a majority have not the right, or that a minority will have the force to subvert a government . . . . But theoretic reasoning in this, as in most other cases, must be qualified by the lessons of practice.

The temple through which alone lies the road to that of Liberty.

All power in human hands is liable to be abused.

The primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor.

The growing wealth aquired by them corporations never fails to be a source of abuses.