I see,... and with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing towards the usurpation of all the rights reserved to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic; and that, too, by constructions which, if legitimate, leave no limits to their power... It is but too evident that the three ruling branches of [the Federal government] are in combination to strip their colleagues, the State authorities, of the powers reserved by them, and to exercise themselves all functions foreign and domestic.

If I am to meet with a disappointment, the sooner I know it, the more of life I shall have to wear it off.

When two parties make a compact, there results to each a power of compelling the other to execute it.

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

It is more honorable to repair a wrong than to persist in it.

I am sure that in estimating every man's value either in private or public life, a pure integrity is the quality we take first into calculation, and that learning and talents are only the second.