 What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. |
| A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person. |
| The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty. |
| The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war. |
| Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done. |
| The capacity of the female mind for studies of the highest order cannot be doubted, having been sufficiently illustrated by its works of genius, of erudition, and of science. |
| No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. |
| Philosophy is common sense with big words. |
| As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. |
| The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived. |
| It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. |
| War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits. |
| Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. |
| The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right. |
| Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. |
| Any reading not of a vicious species must be a good substitute for the amusements too apt to fill up the leisure of the labouring classes. |
| Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic. |
| The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money. |
| A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them. |
| War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason. |
