To me... it appears that there have been differences of opinion and party differences, from the first establishment of government to the present day, and on the same question which now divides our own country; that these will continue through all future time; that every one takes his side in favor of the many, or of the few, according to his constitution, and the circumstances in which he is placed.

I hold it to be one of the distinguishing excellences of elective over hereditary successions that the talents which nature has provided in sufficient proportion, should be selected by the society for the govenment of their affairs, rather than that this should be be transmitted through the loins of knaves and fools passing from the debauches of the table to those of the bed.

The only thing a man can take beyond this lifetime is his ethics.

Gaming corrupts our disposition and teaches us a habit of hostility against all mankind.

No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see... all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what we wish, but what is practicable.

Excessive taxation . . . will carry reason & reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election.

The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management.