I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

. . . in the full tide of successful experiment.

I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family, and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.

So, ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation, in what country on earth would you rather live? — Certainly, in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which would be your second choice? France.

Our wish is that...[there be] maintained that state of property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his own industry or that of his fathers.

Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.

Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established.