“Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.”
“Constitutions should consist only of general provisions the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.”
“Learn to think continentally.”
“The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.”
“Real firmness is good for anything strut is good for nothing.”
“It's not tyranny we desire it's a just, limited, federal government.”
“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.”
“Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.”
“Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.”
“When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.”
“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself and can never be erased.”
“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.”
“In the general course of human nature, A power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will.”
“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”
“In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.”
“In the main it will be found that a power over a man's support (salary) is a power over his will.”
“Power over a man's subsistence is power over his will.”
“I think the first duty of society is justice.”
“I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.”