To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.

With those who wish to think amiss of me, I have learnt to be perfectly indifferent: but where I know a mind to be ingenuous, andto need only truth to set it to rights, I cannot be as passive.

An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. It is therefore imperative that the nation see to it that a suitable education be provided for all its citizens.

I do not agree that an age of pleasure is no compensation for a moment of pain.

The benefit of even limited monopolies is too doubtful, to be opposed to that of their general suppression.

I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.

Our attachment to no nation on earth should supplant our attachment to liberty.