“If Americans desire to be both ignorant and free, they want what never has been and what never will be.”

“...never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting one another. ... When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ... There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met with among us. The first is of young students, just entered the threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet filled up with the details & modifications which a further progress would bring to their knoledge. The other consists of the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. ... Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.”

“Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.” 

“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”

“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.”

“Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace”

“Any Government strong enough to give you what you want, is a Government strong enough to take everything you have!” 

“The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.

“the measure of society is how it treats the weakest members”

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

“Everything is useful which contributes to fix in the principles and practices of virtue.”

“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

“Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.”

“all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

“All, all dead: and ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not, and who know not us.”