Should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.

Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself.

I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations - to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements under all circumstances, to be open and generous, promoting in the long run even the interests of both

I do not agree that an age of pleasure is no compensation for a moment of pain.

A little rebellion is a good thing.

I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.