If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

It is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers but by their distribution that good government is effected.

I cannot live without books: but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor - over each other.

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.