Error is to be pitied and pardoned: it is the weakness of human nature. But vice is a foul blemish, not pardonable in any character.

I steer my bark with hope in the head, leaving fear astern. My hopes indeed sometimes fail, but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy.

All men are created equal.

We act not for ourselves but for the whole human race. The event of our experiment is to show whether man can be trusted with self - government.

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.

My general plan would be to make the States one as to everything connected with foreign nations and several as to everything purely domestic.

The variety of opinions leads to questions. Questions lead to truth.