We cannot control necessity, though we often persuade ourselves that certain things are our choice, when in truth we have been unavoidably impelled to them.
When a man takes time to consider whether he will do a good or civil action, be assured he will never do it. The baser feelings, the calculations of interest and timidity, always prevail.
Would to God that I did stand on the same ground with every other man! This is the first time that I have been permitted to enjoy the rights of a citizen.
