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

“The only security of all is in a free press.”

“The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.”

“...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 country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

“The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave. ”

“The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction.” 

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

“We have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoyments because he is of another church.”

“Peace, that glorious moment in time when everyone stops and reloads.”

“The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to.”

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

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”

“Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.”