“In matters of principal stand like a rock.”

“A little rebellion is good now and then.” 

“The object of walking is to relax the mind. You should therefore not permit yourself even to think while you walk. But divert your attention by the objects surrounding you.”

“Good wine is a necessity of life for me. ”

“I cannot live without books . . .”

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

“It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.”

“Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.”

“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.” 

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

“If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.”

“The probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue beyond what can be applied to the payment of the public debt... merits the consideration of Congress. Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults?...Or shall it rather be appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union”

“Any Government strong enough to give you what you want, is a Government strong enough to take everything you have!” 

“No people who are ignorant can be truly free.”

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”