A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.

A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it, but a good patriot and a true politician always consid…

All persons possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust, and that they are to account for th…

To execute laws is a royal office; to execute orders is not to be a king. However, a political executive magistracy, though merely such, is a great trust.

Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves …

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

I do not believe in violent changes, nor do I expect them. Things in possession have a very firm grip. One of the strongest cements of society is the convictio…