'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.
Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.
It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. [Dec. 14, 1977]
I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares.
Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.
It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.
Government is not reason and it is not eloquence. It is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.
Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.
We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.
Lenience will operate with greater force, in some instances than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have all of my conduct distinguished by it.
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.
I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided b
Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.
The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.
I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. Their indiscriminate violence prostrates for the time all public authority, and its consequences are sometimes extensive and terrible.
Few people have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.
Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.