I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts; but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere; and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue and freedom, would be my choice.

The most uninformed mind with a healthy body is happier than the wisest valetudinarian.

I considered the British as our natural enemies, and as the only nation on earth who wished us ill from the bottom of their souls. And I am satisfied that were our continent to be swallowed up by the ocean, Great Britain would be in a bonfire from one end to the other.

The dominion which the banking institutions have obtained over the minds of our citizens...must be broken, or it will break us.

Every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.