A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favored and cherished.

It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.

A beggarly people, A church and no steeple.

The object of oratory alone in not truth, but persuasion.

The merit of poetry, in its wildest forms, still consists in its truth-truth conveyed to the understanding, not directly by the words, but circuitously by means of imaginative associations, which serve as its conductors.

Free trade, one of the greatest blessings which a government can confer on a people, is in almost every country unpopular.

A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.