“I was born for a storm, and a calm does not suit me.”
“The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.”
“One man with courage makes a majority.”
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”
“I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President.”
“You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.”
“The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.”
“It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word.”
“Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.”
“There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.”
“Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.”
“To the victors belong the spoils.”
“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives.”
“Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted.”
“The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.”
“I am one of the people and know where they stand on most issues.”
“Our Union: it must be preserved.”
“In a free government, the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents.”
“We are beginning a new era in our government. I wish it to be distinguished for economy and simplicity.”
“The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.”
“My friends are everything to me, and I will defend them as long as I have a breath in my body.”
“The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.”
“The individual who refuses to defend his rights when called by his government deserves to be a slave and must be punished as an enemy of his country and friend to her foe.”
“I have only two regrets: I didn’t shoot Henry Clay, and I didn’t hang John C. Calhoun.”
“If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning.”
“The right of the people to rule is sovereign.”
“There are few things to be compared to the public good.”
“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.”
“It is a principle of true liberty that the common interests are to be decided by a common sense.”
“I care not about two or three dozen offices, but about one great office, which I call the public.”
“The people have always a right to be consulted upon the business which concerns them.”
“Disunion by armed force is treason.”
“It is an idle dream to suppose that the simple question of dollars and cents will be sufficient to guard against corruption.”
“Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men.”
“Every good citizen makes his country’s honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred.”
“The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.”
“There never was a better adviser than my dear mother.”
“When people are able to govern themselves, they are free.”
“True liberty consists not in the right of freedom from restraint, but in a government which restrains all its members from injuring one another.”
“I would rather trust the people with the formation of their own institutions than see the government take them in hand.”
“Nullification means insurrection and war; and the other states have a right to put it down.”
“Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved.”
“Do they think I am such a damned fool as to think myself fit for President?”
“The rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.”
“I would bring the government back to what it was intended to be: a plain, economical government.”
“It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word.”
“To the people belongs the right of amending their Constitution at pleasure.”
“The rights of the people to control their own institutions according to their own judgment is the foundation of liberty.”
“I will always support the public good.”
“The Union—it must and shall be preserved.”
“Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.”
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
“I am satisfied the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army.”
“I will not bow to any earthly monarch.”
“There is nothing that I shun more than duty and responsibility.”
“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see it become a victim of corrupt men.”
“I have a temper, sir, and a very bad one, and if you wish me to go on, I will do so.”
“Power cannot be delegated without danger.”
“Every man is equally entitled to protection by law.”