I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.
Little strokes fell great oaks.
The basis of a democratic state is liberty
It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence now and independence forever.
I thank you all and here dismiss you all, and to the love and favor of my country commit myself, my person, and the cause.
When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir.
America is too great for small dreams.
The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government.
America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
People who are wrapped up in themselves make small packages.
If you take advantage of everything that America has to offer, there's nothing you can't accomplish.
The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.
In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience.
I set out on this ground which I suppose to be self-evident, that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living. . . . We seem not to perceive that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation is to another. . . . The earth belongs always to the living generations.
You see, here in America there's a reason why we celebrate the 4th of July and not April 15th because in America we celebrate our independence from the government, not our dependence on it.
What is the essence of America? The essence of America is finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from. "
Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.
My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty. . . it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.
Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world.
We are free, truly free, when we don't need to rent our arms to anybody in order to be able to lift a piece of bread to our mouths.