The law of self-preservation is higher than written law.

Perfect happiness, I believe, was never intended by the Deity to be the lot of one of his creatures in this world; but that he has very much put in our power the nearness of our approaches to it is what I have steadfastly believed.

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

The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The ocean ... like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind.

The legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions.