May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.

The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one. Nor will any degree of power in the hands of government prevent insurrections.

He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time.

History has informed us that bodies of men as well as individuals are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny.

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.

letters are not the first, but the last step in the progression from barbarism to civilisation.

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act.