Thomas Paine needs no monument made with hands; he has erected a monument in the hearts of all lovers of liberty.
From his proceedings in Congress, he appears demented, and his actings and doings inspire my pity more than anger.
I not only rejoice, but congratulate my beloved country Texas is reannexed, and the safety, prosperity, and the greatest interest of the whole Union is secured by this great and important national act.
I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell.
I do not forget that I am a mechanic. I am proud to own it. Neither do I forget that the apostle Paul was a tentmaker; Socrates was a sculptor; and Archimedes was a mechanic.
I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety.
Freemasonry is an establishment founded on the benevolent intention of extending and conferring mutual happiness upon the best and truest principles of moral life and social virtue.
The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.
The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none.
The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.
Men do not get up and do mischief, without there is someone in the head of it.
Their object is disunion.
I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.
The authority of the Supreme Court must not be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve.
I am now eased in my finances and replenished in my wardrobe.
I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an Emperor or a King my republican feelings and principles forbid it the simplicity of our system of government forbids it.
Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority.
I carried $5000 when I went to Washington. I returned with barely $90 in our pockets.
I would sincerely regret, and which never shall happen whilst I am in office, a military guard around the President.
What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute.