If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.
When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.
Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.
When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the reme...
Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.
Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.
How much pain they have cost us the evils which have never happened.
It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness...
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let...
I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
It is neither wealth nor splendor but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.
So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.