“The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government.”

One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.

Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause.

A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.

Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.

The nation which indulges toward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.

Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice.

I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.

Man is the religious animal.

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation.

Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights—then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward.

Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution . .

I don’t know whither we are drifting, but I do know where every real thinking patriot will stand in the end, and that’s by the Constitution.

But just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you’ve got to compromise. You’ve got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.

Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. This the Constitution forbids.

I am ruled by emotion. She is a fickle leader of a volatile kingdom, where conniving skies cast intemperate clouds over my constitution.

It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.

It is difficult to maintain the illusion that we are interpreting a Constitution, rather than inventing one.