A well-informed citizenry is essential to a functioning democracy.

The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.

Good government is the product of a well-informed and engaged citizenry.

I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.

Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be…

Those who have been blessed with the privileges of education should be the guardians of those privileges for the benefit of all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation.

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

Each citizen must contribute to the common defense, which is the foundation of our security.

Those who are well informed about their rights and duties make the best citizens.

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

A government that governs least is best.

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories...has been evinced by the experience of all mankind.

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence—it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.