“People must be taken as they are, and we should never try make them or ourselves better by quarreling with them.”

The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Good order is the foundation of all things.

Manners are of more importance than laws. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe.

But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.

Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.

I cannot conceive how any man can have brought himself to that pitch of presumption, to consider his country as nothing but carte blanche, upon which he may scribble whatever he pleases.

Equity money is dynamic and debt money is static.

The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.

True religion is the foundation of society. When that is once shaken by contempt, the whole fabric cannot be stable nor lasting.

It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men.

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director and regulator, the standard of them all.

By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.

A populace never rebels from passion for attack, but from impatience of suffering.

You really have to be satisfied with what you are and accept from life what it still very generously offers you – and notice it, and be glad for it.

A second quality of mature spirituality is kindness. It is based on a fundamental notion of self-acceptance.

People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that Benjamin Franklin said it first. Perhaps it is impossible for a person who does no good to do no harm.

On this sacred path of Radical Acceptance, rather than striving for perfection, we discover how to love ourselves into wholeness.

As far as beauty is concerned, in order to be confident we must accept that the way we look and feel is our own responsibility.

Negro blood is sure powerful, because just one drop of black blood makes a colored man. One drop–you are a Negro! . . . Black is powerful.

In deep self acceptance, grows a compassionate understanding.

Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro – and beautiful!