“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.”

To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection.

To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection.

I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.

Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.

A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.

The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

Dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.

Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.

There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism.

You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.

Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.

Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity, it must be respectable – even to observe neutrality, you must have a strong government.

I always feel how necessary you are to me. But when you are absent, I become still more sensible of it and look around in vain for that satisfaction which you alone can bestow.

Men are reasoning rather than reasonable animals.

Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.

We must understand that governments cannot create real jobs. Only entrepreneurs can do that.

A small knowledge of human nature will convince us, that, with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle; and that almost every man is more or less, under its influence.

The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.