My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.

Thanks be to God, that he gave me Stubborness, when I know I am right.

No good government but what is republican... the very definition of a republic is 'an empire of laws, and not of men.'

When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone.

The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families.

The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that.

Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast as Petrarch for the revival of the republic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.