Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations. No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.

Freedom, the first-born of science.

The execution of the laws is more important than the making of them.

None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important.

[The Federal Convention] is really an assembly of demigods.

Freedom [is] the first-born daughter of science

You see I am an enthusiast on the subject of the arts. But it is an enthusiasm of which I am not ashamed, as its object is to improve the taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile to them the respect of the world, and procure them its praise.