Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either.

The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing.

Of all the tyrannies that effect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity.

The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Evils, like poisons, have their uses, and there are diseases which no other remedy can reach.

Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.