“But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”

“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is Just”

“I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.”

“Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” 

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it.”

“Good humor is one of the preservatives of our peace and tranquility” 

“Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.”

“Courts love the people always, as wolves do the sheep”

“Do not be too severe upon the errors of the people, but reclaim them by enlightening them.”

“The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”

“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.” 

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

“Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.”