Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
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.
Power over a man's subsistence is power over his will.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.
You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.
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.
Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.