The application requisite to the duties of the office I hold [governor of Virginia] is so excessive, and the execution of them after all so imperfect, that I have determined to retire from it at the close of the present campaign.

The fantastical idea of virtue and the public good being a sufficient security to the state against the commission of crimes, which you say you have heard insisted on by some, I assure you was never mine.

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

I feel much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson President. He is the most unfit man I know for such a place.

Responsibility is a tremendous engine in a free government.

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.