Edmund Burke: “He meant only, to the best of his power, to guard the public against the ill designs of factions out of doors.”

I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.

If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.

They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.

Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.