But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror.

Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

I have great confidence in the common sense of mankind in general.

Man is fed with fables through life, and leaves it in the belief he knows something of what has been passing, when in truth he knows nothing but what has passed under his own eyes.

I have overlived the generation with which mutual labors & perils begat mutual confidence and influence.

The wise know too well their weakness to assume infallibility; and he who knows most knows best how little he knows.

The man who loves his country on its own account, and not merely for its trappings of interest or power, can never be divorced for it, can never refuse to come forward when he finds that she is engaged in dangers which he has the means of warding off.