Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.

Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.

And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first
scarcity they will turn and bite the hand read more

And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first
scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which was ever
debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor read more

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which was ever
debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be,
decided among men. A resolution was passed without one
dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent States.

My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on

My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought read more

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.

An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.

"Whatever is, is not," is the maxim of the anarchist, as often as
anything comes across him in the read more

"Whatever is, is not," is the maxim of the anarchist, as often as
anything comes across him in the shape of a law which he happens
not to like.

The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare.

The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare.

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our read more

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men." -Samuel Adams