The day is not distant when we must bear and adopt [the abolition of slavery], or worse will follow.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

Is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than that of face and stature.

That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain.

No man has done everything he can who has done only his best.

People generally have more feeling for canals and roads than education. However, I hope we can advance them with equal pace.

If you are obliged to neglect any thing, let it be your chemistry. It is the least useful and the least amusing to a country gentleman of all the ordinary branches of science.