The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.

The excellence of every government is its adaptation to the state of those to be governed by it.

[The people] are in truth the only legitimate proprietors of the soil and government.

The only greater [evil] than separation... [is] living under a government of discretion.

The more a subject is understood, the more briefly it may be explained.

If the Wise be the happy man... he must be virtuous too; for, without virtue, happiness cannot be. This then is the true scope of all academical emulation.

To be really useful, we must keep pace with the state of society, and not dishearten it by attempts at what its population, means, or occupations will fail in attempting.