I consider it an indubitable mark of mean-spiritedness and pitiful vanity to court applause from the pen or tongue of man.
Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God and guide this day and forever for His sake, who lay down in the grave and arose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
If you can’t send money, send tobacco.
Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are fighting for the blessings of liberty.
It is not the lowest priced goods that are always the cheapest – the quality is, or ought to be as much an object with the purchaser, as the price.
Speak seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents, and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of the subject.
If we cannot learn wisdom from experience, it is hard to say where it is to be found.
It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being Who rules over the universe, Who presides in the councils of nations, and Whose providential aids can supply every human defect...
The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the tyranny meditated against them.
Let us therefore rely on the goodness of the cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions.
A people unused to restraint must be led, they will not be drove.
Nothing is more essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated.
All see, and most admire, the glare which hovers round the external happiness of elevated office.
I never say anything of a man that I have the smallest scruple of saying to him.
If there was the same propensity in mankind for investigating the motives, as there is for censuring the conduct, of public characters, it would be found that the censure so freely bestowed is oftentimes unmerited and uncharitable.
Let us impart all the blessings we possess, or ask for ourselves, to the whole family of mankind.
To the efficacy and permanency of your union a government for the whole is indispensable.
Where is the man to be found who wishes to remain indebted for the defense of his own person and property to the exertions, the bravery, and the blood of others, without making one generous effort to repay the debt of honor and gratitude?
My manner of living is plain and I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready.
Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them.