The only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it.

We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market, and from its fertility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants.

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

I have nothing but contempt for anyone who can spell a word in only one way.

How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the earth were it not for misgovernment and a diversion of his energies to selfish interests.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.