“The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.”

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none

On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.

He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time.

Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love.

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

I think one travels more usefully when they travel alone, because they reflect more.

It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice.

We have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoyments because he is of another church.

Good wine is a necessity of life for me.

Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other.

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

Revolutions are spiritual acts. They appear first in people, then in politics and the economy. New people form new structures. The transformation we want is first of all spiritual; that will necessarily change the way things are.

My personal opinion is that when the economy does well, anybody who has a deposit franchise will survive and grow because how can you lend if you do not have a deposit franchise?

Any discrimination, like sharp turns in a road, becomes critical because of the tremendous speed at which we are traveling into the high-tech world of a service economy.

Labor was the first price, the original purchase – money that was paid for all things.

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.

Teach a parrot the terms ‘supply and demand’ and you’ve got an economist.

During the Great Depression African Americans understood that Republicans championed citizenship and voting rights, but they became impatient for economic emancipation.

We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people, so just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone. Let’s not punish anyone.