"It is not by a compliance with the importunities of the moment, but by a steady adherence to the true interests of the country, that we are to acquire a solid and permanent reputation."

"A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government."

"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 its…"

"I am a man of the world, and I have seen enough of it to know that there is no such thing as perfect happiness."

"I have always been in favor of a general government, and I am in favor of it now."