The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased."

Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.

I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect men.

Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.

"Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike."