“That one generation of men in civil society have no right to make acts to bind another, is a truth that cannot be confused.”

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” 

“Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.”

“As new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.”

“We seem not to perceive that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation is to another.”

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have

“...never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting one another. ... When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ... There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met with among us. The first is of young students, just entered the threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet filled up with the details & modifications which a further progress would bring to their knoledge. The other consists of the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. ... Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.”

“Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.”

“I cannot live without books: but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.” 

“I am convinced our own happiness requires that we should continue to mix with the world, and to keep pace with it as it goes. "

“Follow truth wherever it may lead you.”

“I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial.”

“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”

“On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.”