A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

My heart trembles when I reflect that God is just

That the enthusiasm which characterizes youth should lift its parricide hands against freedom and science would be such a monstrous phenomenon as I cannot place among possible things in this age and country.

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

Do not write me studied letters but ramble as you please.

I long to be in the midst of the children, and have more pleasure in their little follies than in the wisdom of the wise.

If thinking men would have the courage to think for themselves, and to speak what they think, it would be found they do not differ in religious opinions as much as is supposed.