I can never consent to being dictated to.

It was hard graft all the way and a good result in the end.

I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free.

Liberty and equality are captivating sounds, but they often captivate to destroy.

Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality.

Nature governs man by no principle more fixed than that which leads him to pursue his interest.

The institutions under which we live, my countrymen, secure each person in the perfect enjoyment of all his rights.

On the coming of that tremendous storm which for eight years desolated our country, Mr. Jefferson hesitated not, halted not.

Our wise men flattered us into the adoption of the banking system under the idea that boundless wealth would result from the adoption.

Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette - the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace.

Parties are continually changing. The men of today give place to the men of tomorrow, and the idols which one set worship, the next destroy.

So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of good will and friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations.

This Constitution was not made for a day, nor is it composed of such flexible materials as to be warped to the purposes of a casually ascendant influence.

A republican government can only be supported by virtue; and the end of all our legislation should be to encourage our fellow citizens in its daily practice.

A manufacturing nation is, in every sense of the word, dependent on others. Look to England! Cut off from the markets of the world, misery and ruin await her.

The tolling of yon dismal bell and the loud but solemn discharge of artillery hath announced to the nation the melancholy tidings - Thomas Jefferson no longer lives!

I should be pleased to see all the nations on the earth prosperous and happy and rich, for it would furnish to me the best evidence of the prosperity of my native land.

Here lies the body of my good horse, The General. For years he bore me around the circuit of my practice and all that time he never made a blunder. Would that his master could say the same.

Our form of government can no longer be considered an experiment in politics. Crowned with success, it stands forth an example to the world and exhibits the proudest triumph of reason and philosophy.

Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God.

If the tide of defamation and abuse shall turn, and my administration come to be praised, future Vice-Presidents who may succeed to the Presidency may feel some slight encouragement to pursue an independent course.

Were you a merchant, would you settle yourself in a rich or poor neighborhood? You would not be so blind as to locate yourself among persons who would not be able to purchase your goods. So with nations with whom we trade.

We direct the destinies of a mighty continent. Our resources are unlimited: our means unbounded. If we be true to ourselves, the glory of other nations, in comparison to ours, shall resemble but a tale from the days of chivalry.

It is by these, the people, that I have been clothed with the high powers which they have seen fit to confide to their Chief Executive, and been charged with the solemn responsibility under which those powers are to be exercised.

The sailor's life is at the best a life of danger. He pursues honor on the mountain wave and finds it in the battle and in the storm, and never did more distinguished chivalry display itself than in the conduct of our seamen during the late war.

In 1840 I was called from my farm to undertake the administration of public affairs and I foresaw that I was called to a bed of thorns. I now leave that bed which has afforded me little rest, and eagerly seek repose in the quiet enjoyments of rural life.

The applause of his native land is the richest reward to which the patriot ever aspires. It is this for which 'he bears to live or dares to die.' It is the high incentive to those achievements which illustrate the page of history and give to poetry its brightest charm.

If we find ourselves increasing beyond example in numbers, in strength, in wealth, in knowledge, in everything which promotes human and social happiness, let us ever remember our dependence for all these on the protection and merciful dispensations of Divine Providence.

When the happy era shall arrive for the emancipation of nations, hastened on as it will be by the example of America, shall they not resort to the Declaration of our Independence as the charter of their rights, and will not its author be hailed as the benefactor of the redeemed?

My own personal popularity can have no influence over me when the dictates of my best judgment and the obligations of an oath require of me a particular course. Under such circumstances, whether I sink or swim on the tide of popular favor is, to me, a matter of inferior consideration.

I am charged with violating pledges which I never gave; and because I execute what I believe to be the law, with usurping powers not conferred by law; and above all, with using the powers conferred upon the President by the Constitution, from corrupt motives and for unwarrantable ends.

There will be found to exist at all times an imperious necessity for restraining all the functionaries of the Government within the range of their respective powers thereby preserving a just balance between the powers granted to this Government and those reserved to the States and to the people.

Pleasure has ever more been represented by poets and by painters as clothed in perpetual smiles and adorned with the richest jewels; and in real life, we have known many who, allured by her deceptions, blandishments, and hollow but showy temptations, have followed as she pointed until ruin has befallen them.

The United States have adventured upon a great and noble experiment, which is believed to have been hazarded in the absence of all previous precedent - that of total separation of Church and State. No religious establishment by law exists among us. The conscience is left free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker after his own judgement.

The United States has adventured upon a great and noble experiment . . . of total separation of Church and State. . . . The offices of the Government are open alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgment of man set up as the sure and infallible creed of faith. . . . Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and . . . our system of free government would be imperfect without it.

Share This Page