From breakfast, or noon at the latest, to dinner, I am mostly on horseback, Attending to My Farm or other concerns, which I find healthful to my body, mind, and affairs.

Public offices were not made for private convenience.

The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.

Knowing that religion does not furnish grosser bigots than law, I expect little from old judges.

If a sect arises whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play and reasons and laughs it out of doors without suffering the State to be troubled with it.

Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.

I steer my bark with hope in the head, leaving fear astern.