“Defense is superior to opulence.”

The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.

It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. They are themselves, always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society.

An instructed and intelligent people are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one.

Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.

It must always be remembered, however, that it is the luxuries, and not the necessary expense of the inferior ranks of people, that ought ever to be taxed.

Beneficence is always free, it cannot be extorted by force.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.

It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the industry of the country.

All money is a matter of belief.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

We are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it.

Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse.

Corn is a necessary, silver is only a superfluity.

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.

It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it.

Humor is just another defense against the universe.

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

I think most defense attorneys know, to some extent, their clients are guilty.

We seek the right to play our part in advancing the cause of national defense and national unity. But certainly, there can be no true national unity where one-tenth of the population is denied their basic rights as American citizens.

I believe a strong NATO has been the bulwark of our defence in Europe. Obviously that’s important in the UK national interest and I believe it’s important in the US national interest.

In ’82 Brazil showed that you can’t win the World Cup without a solid defense.

You need a strategy that involves layered defense: deployed patrols, sophisticated sensor equipment, and surveillance from the air. That is what has had a positive impact over the last generation.