No man has greater confidence than I have in the spirit of the people, to a rational extent. Whatever they can, they will.

In a republican nation whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance.

History has informed us that bodies of men as well as individuals are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny.

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

Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw; formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves... down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony.

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

I hope we shall prove how much happier for man the Quaker policy is, and that the life of the feeder is better than that of the fighter; and it is some consolation that the desolation by these maniacs of one part of the earth is the means of improving it in other parts. Let the latter be our office, and let us milk the cow, while the Russian holds her by the horns, and the Turk by the tail.