Of all the errors which can possibly be committed to the education of youth, that of sending them to Europe is the most fatal. I see [clearly] that no American should come to Europe under 30 years of age.

Public employment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one's family and affairs.

We generally learn languages for the benefit of reading the books written in them

Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.

We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.

The soil is the gift of God to the living.

The children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.