I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.

In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.