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

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.”

“Good humor is one of the preservatives of our peace and tranquility” 

“Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” 

“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time.”

“It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.”

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.”

“Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself.”

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms”

“A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable.”

“I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.”

“All, all dead: and ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not, and who know not us.”

“I set out on this ground, which I suppose to be self-evident, that the dart belongs in usufruct to the living.”

“There is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.”

“The contest is not between Us and Them, but between Good and Evil, and if those who would fight Evil adopt the ways of Evil, Evil wins.”