Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.
The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.
All men are by nature born equally free and independent.
We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.
I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.
To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.
As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this.
I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.
I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.
I wish I knew where to get a good one myself; for I find cold Sheets extreamly disagreeable.
The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.
We owe to our Mother-Country the Duty of Subjects but will not pay her the Submission of Slaves.
Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.
The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind.
I quitted my Seat in the House of Delegates, from a Conviction that I was no longer able to do any essential Service.
No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?
Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.
The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.
The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.
Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.
All power is lodged in, and consequently derived from, the people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it on as our armour.
I determined to spend the Remainder of my Days in privacy and Retirement with my Children, from whose Society alone I cou'd expect Comfort.
Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state.
I thank God, I have been able, by adopting Principles of strict Economy and Frugality, to keep my principal, I mean my Country-Estate, unimpaired.
Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.
All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; [...] magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.
Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.
That in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred.
Habituated from our Infancy to trample upon the Rights of Human Nature, every generous, every liberal Sentiment, if not extinguished, is enfeebled in our Minds.
Who are the militia, if they be not the people, of this country...? I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.
No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue.
A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.
Attend with Diligence and strict Integrity to the Interest of your Correspondents and enter into no Engagements which you have not the almost certain Means of performing.
The [President's] Nomination, of Course, brings the Subject fully under the Consideration of the Senate; who have then a Right to decide upon its Propriety or Impropriety.
Our All is at Stake, and the little Conveniencys and Comforts of Life, when set in Competition with our Liberty, ought to be rejected not with Reluctance but with Pleasure.
That slow poison [slavery] is daily contaminating the minds and morals of our people. Every gentlemen here is born a petty tyrant, practiced in acts of despotism and cruelty.
In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.
That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.
If I can only live to see the American union firmly fixed, and free governments well established in our western world, and can leave to my children but a crust of bread and liberty, I shall die satisfied.
I retired from public Business from a thorough Conviction that it was not in my Power to do any Good, and very much disgusted with Measures, which appeared to me inconsistent with common Policy and Justice.
I give and bequeath my soul to Almighty God that gave it me, hoping that through the meritorious death and passion of our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ to receive absolution and remission for all my sins.
The epithets of parent and child have been long applied to Great Britain and her colonies, [but] we rarely see anything from your side of the water except the authoritative style of a master to a school-boy.
That the people have a right to uniform government; and, therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.
Your dear baby has died innocent and blameless, and has been called away by an all wise and merciful Creator, most probably from a life to misery and misfortune, and most certainly to one of happiness and bliss.
Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.
Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes.
Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.
One of the first principles of decorative art is that in all manufactures ornament must hold a place subordinate to that of utility; and when, by its exuberance, ornament interferes with utility, it is misplaced and vulgar.
I am now pretty far advanced in life, and all my views are center'd in the Happiness and well-fare of my children; you will therefore find from me every Indulgence which you have a right to expect from an affectionate Parent.