“...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.”

“A machine for making revolutions is doing precisely the wrong thing at just the right time.”

“I consider him [Alexander von Humboldt] the most important scientist whom I have met.”

“How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!” 

“An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.”

“The art of life is the art of avoiding pain.”

“A Man's management of his own purse speaks volumes about character”

“This is the fourth?

“It is while we are young that the habit of industry is formed. If not then, it never is afterward.”

“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” 

“Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.”

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

“In a republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance”

“No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.”

“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”