"The consideration that I was not a professional man, and that I had less pretensions to it than many, was a powerful argument against my undertaking the command."

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."

"Dear Tench: We have had various conjectures about you. Some thought you were dead, others that you were married."

"My movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution."

"I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the Seat of Government by the Officers of State and the Representatives of every Nation."