"It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries."

The plough is to the farmer what the wand is to the sorcerer. Its effect is really like sorcery.

The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

No stile of writing is so delightful as that which is all pith, which never omits a necessary word, nor uses an unnecessary one.

I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.

The great cause which divides our countries is not to be decided by individual animosities. The harmony of private societies cannot weaken national efforts.