Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.

Industry, commerce and security are the surest roads to the happiness and prosperity of people.

Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself.

The monopoly of a single bank is certainly an evil. The multiplication of them was intended to cure it; but it multiplied an influence of the same character with the first, and completed the supplanting the precious metals by a paper circulation. Between such parties the less we meddle the better.

Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.

Good humor is one of the preservatives of our peace and tranquility.

Of all the errors which can possibly be committed to the education of youth, that of sending them to Europe is the most fatal. I see [clearly] that no American should come to Europe under 30 years of age.