The art of reasoning becomes of first importance. In this line antiquity has left us the finest models for imitation; I should consider the speeches of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus, as pre-eminent specimens of logic, taste, and that sententious brevity which, using not a word to spare, leaves not a moment for inattention to the hearer. Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.

I have ever deemed it more honorable and more profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.

Courts love the people always, as wolves do the sheep.

Never use one word when two will do.

Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health.

The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one. Nor will any degree of power in the hands of government prevent insurrections.