During the whole time I sat with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three sentences together.

I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.

The study and practice of law ... does not dissolve the obligations of morality or of religion.

Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

The whole drama of the world is such tragedy that I am weary of the spectacle.

Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest numbers of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best. 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.