Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

I do not believe war the most certain means of enforcing principles. Those peaceable coercions which are in the power of every nation, if undertaken in concert and in time of peace, are more likely to produce the desired effect.

Our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them.

One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier.

Without health there is no happiness. An attention to health, then, should take the place of every other object.

Blest is that nation whose silent course of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say.

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.