Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.

A common and natural result of an undue respect of law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.

When was it that men agreed to respect the appearance and not the reality?

. . . we should be men first, and subjects afterward.

Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.

I do not wish, it happens, to be associated with Massachusetts, either in holding slaves or in conquering Mexico. I am a little better than herself in these respects.