If The Prudence Of Reserve And Decorum

The Great Error Of Our Nature Is, Not To Know Where To Stop, Not To Be Satisfied With Any Reasonable Acquirement; Not To Compound With Our Condition; But To Lose All We Have Gained By An Insatiable Pursuit After More.

Adversity Is A Severe Instructor, Set Over Us By One Who Knows Us Better Than We Do Ourselves, As He Loves Us Better Too. He That Wrestles With Us Strengthens Our Nerves And Sharpens Our Skill. Our Antagonist Is Our Helper. This Conflict With Difficulty Makes Us Acquainted With Our Object, And Compels Us To Consider It In All Its Relations. It Will Not Suffer Us To Be Superficial.

Custom Reconciles Us To Everything.

They [americans] Augur Misgovernment At A Distance And Snuff The Approach Of Tyranny In Every Tainted Breeze.

A Disposition To Preserve, And An Ability To Improve, Taken Together, Would Be My Standard Of A Statesman.