The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

Can one generation bind another, and all others, in succession forever? I think not. The Creator has made the earth for the living, not the dead. Rights and powers can only belong to persons, not to things, not to mere matter endowed with will...Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.

No stile of writing is so delightful as that which is all pith, which never omits a necessary word, nor uses an unnecessary one.

People generally have more feeling for canals and roads than education. However, I hope we can advance them with equal pace.

It must be observed that our revenues are raised almost wholly on imported goods.