Free men do not ask permission to bear arms

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.

The difficulty is no longer to find candidates for the offices, but offices for the candidates.

The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society. And indeed it would have been inconsistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of the society. May we not even say that that form of government is the best which provides the most - for a pure selection of these natural aristoi into the offices of government?

The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man

The human character, we believe, requires in general constant and immediate control to prevent its being biased from right by the seductions of self-love.

No man has done everything he can who has done only his best.