I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries of comforts of life.

The sun of her [Great Britain] glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her philosophy has crossed the Channel, her freedom the Atlantic, and herself seems passing to that awful dissolution, whose issue is not given human foresight to scan.

[The people] are in truth the only legitimate proprietors of the soil and government.

I have nothing but contempt for anyone who can spell a word in only one way.

I have learned to be less confident in the conclusions of human reason, and give more credit to the honesty of contrary opinions.

Never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many on their getting warm, becoming rude and shooting one another.

A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.