Elections to office, which are the great objects of ambition, I look at with terror!

Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.

Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.

The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly [with your God]. This is enough.

Power in any Form . . . when directed only by human Wisdom and Benevolence is dangerous.

As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families.

Have you ever found in history, one single example of a nation, thoroughly corrupted, that was afterwards restored to virtue? And without virtue there can be no political liberty.