"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it the superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right."

"Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS -- our inferior one varies with the place."

"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Where, say some, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, He reigns above."

"The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind."

"It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime."

"Reason and Ignorance, the opposites of each other, influence the great bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently extensive in a country, the machinery of Government goes easily on. Reason obeys itself; and Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it."

"Time makes more converts than reason."

"Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society."

"It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same."

"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."

"The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance."

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice."

"An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot."

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

"It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance"

"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."

"The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy."

"To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not."

"Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them."

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself."

"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it."

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."

"But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing."

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

"If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately."

"Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us."

"Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title."

"My mind is my own church."

"When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon."

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason."

"Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one's own efforts."

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly."

"These are the times that try men's souls."

"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."

"It is with pious fraud as with a bad action; it begets a calamitous necessity of going on"

"Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch"

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."

"The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security."

"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind"

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary"

"These are times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country."

"He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird."

"Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."

"Karl Marx: "Religion is the opiate of the masses." Carrie Fisher: "I did masses of opiates religiously."

"I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to BE art."