What i value more than all things, good humor.

To me... it appears that there have been differences of opinion and party differences, from the first establishment of government to the present day, and on the same question which now divides our own country; that these will continue through all future time; that every one takes his side in favor of the many, or of the few, according to his constitution, and the circumstances in which he is placed.

I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.

The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that, considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.