I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.

Thomas Paine (1776)

Even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.

Thomas Paine (1776)

The mobs of the great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people, which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.

Thomas Jefferson (1787)

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

Thomas Jefferson

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

Thomas Jefferson

Where there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community.

Benjamin Rush (1788)

A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation.

Thomas Paine (1792)

The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all citizens.

Thomas Jefferson (1816)