“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.”
“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.”
“The final event to himself has been, that as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick.”
“A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.”
“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
“My own mind is my own church.”
“Human nature is not of itself vicious.”
“Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.”
“These are the times that try men's souls.”
“Character is much easier kept than recovered.”
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
“That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.”
“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
“Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.”
“A bad cause will never be supported by bad means and bad men.”
“Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.”
“Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.”
“When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.”
“Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us.”
“The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.”
“Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad.”
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
“We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.”
“Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'Tis time to part.”
“Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
“To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches.”
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; 'Tis dearness only that gives everything its value.”
“I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.”
“It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by ;degrees, the consequences will be the same.”