There never did, there never will, and there never can exist a parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed of the right or the power of binding and controlling posterity to the 'end of time,' or of commanding for ever how the world shall be governed, or who shall govern it. Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generations which preceded it.

Governments arise either out of the people or over the people.

The period of debate is closed. Arms, as a last resource, must decide the contest.

The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.

Government is a necessary evil

I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.

The duty of man is not a wilderness of turnpike gates, through which he is to pass by tickets from one to the other. It is plain and simple, and consists but of two points--his duty God, which every man must feel; and, with respect to his neighbor, to do as he would be done by.