The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.

We have no Constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people

All sober inquirers after truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.

Property monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind.

Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense.

Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.

Let us hear the dangers of thralldom to our consciences from ignorance, extreme poverty, and dependence; in short, from civil and political slavery. Let us see delineated before us the true map of man. Let us hear the dignity of his nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God-that consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust, as offensive in the sight of God as it is derogatory from our own honor or interest or happiness-and that God Almighty has promulgated from heaven liberty, peace, and goodwill to man!