"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to conv…"

"It [hereditary succession] appears under all the various characters of childhood, decrepitude, dotage, a thing at nurse, in leading-strings, or in crutches. It reverses the wholesome order of nature. …"

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"The voice of the people is the voice of God."

"The more perfect civilization is, the less occasion has it for government, because the more does it regulate its own affairs, and govern itself."