There is no positive law: Many things are bad by that, which otherwise were not.

I will not avoid doing what I think is right, though it should draw on me the whole artillery that falsehood and malice can invent, or the credulity a deluded population can swallow.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.

Humanism or atheism is a wonderful philosophy of life as long as you are big, strong, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. But watch out if you are in a lifeboat and there are others who are younger, bigger, or smarter.

It is iniquitous, unjust, and most impolitic to persecute for religion's sake. It is against natural religion, revealed religion, and sound policy.

Rules of property ought to be generally known, and not to be left upon loose notes, which rather serve to confound principles, than to confirm them.

An estimated value is a precarious measure of justice, compared with the specific thing.