"The mere repetition of the Cantilena of lawyers cannot make it law, unless it can be traced to some competent authority; and if it be irreconcilable, to some clear legal principle."

O'Connell v. The Queen, 11 Clark and Finnelly Reports.

"'T was the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring,--not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

A Visit from St. Nicholas.

"Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage,--a personage less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array."

Speech, Jan. 29, 1828.

"In my mind, he was guilty of no error, he was chargeable with no exaggeration, he was betrayed by his fancy into no metaphor, who once said that all we see about us, kings, lords, and Commons, the whole machinery of the State, all the apparatus of the system, and its varied workings, end in simply bringing twelve good men into a box."

Present State of the Law, Feb. 7, 1828.

"The scene was more beautiful far to the eye Than if day in its pride had arrayed it."

The Beacon.

"And o'er them the lighthouse looked lovely as hope,-- That star of life's tremulous ocean."

The Beacon.

"When I see a merchant over-polite to his customers, begging them to taste a little brandy and throwing half his goods on the counter,--thinks I, that man has an axe to grind."

Who 'll turn Grindstones.

"The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party."

Speech, Feb. 13, 1835.

"A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks."

Speech, May 27, 1836.

"Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens."

Speech at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820. Vol. i. p. 44.

"Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold this joyous day."

Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. i. p. 64.

"Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the process by which human ends are ultimately answered."

Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. i. p. 71.

"Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power are scattered with all its beams."

Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. i. p. 74.

"Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country."

Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. i. p. 78.

"Knowledge is the only fountain both of the love and the principles of human liberty."

Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 93.

"The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of especial revelation from God."

Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 102.

"America has furnished to the world the character of Washington. And if our American institutions had done nothing else, that alone would have entitled them to the respect of mankind."

Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 105.

"Thank God! I--I also--am an American!"

Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 107.

"Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote."

Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. P. 133.

"It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment,--Independence now and Independence forever."

Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. Vol. i. p. 136.

"Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored."

Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. Vol. i. p. 146.

"Washington is in the clear upper sky."

Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. Vol. i. p. 148.

"He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet."

Speech on Hamilton, March 10, 1831. P. 200.

"One country, one constitution, one destiny."

Speech, March 15, 1837. P. 349.

"When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are the founders of human civilization."

Remarks on Agriculture, Jan. 13, 1840. P. 457.

"Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth."

On Mr. Justice Story, 1845. P. 300.

"Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint."

Speech at the Charleston Bar Dinner, May 10, 1847. Vol. ii. p. 393.

"The law: It has honored us; may we honor it."

Toast at the Charleston Bar Dinner, May 10, 1847. Vol. ii. p. 394.

"I have read their platform, and though I think there are some unsound places in it, I can stand upon it pretty well. But I see nothing in it both new and valuable. "What is valuable is not new, and what is new is not valuable.""

Speech at Marshfield, Sept. 1, 1848. P. 433.

"Labour in this country is independent and proud. It has not to ask the patronage of capital, but capital solicits the aid of labor."

Speech, April, 1824. Vol. iii. p. 141.

"The gentleman has not seen how to reply to this, otherwise than by supposing me to have advanced the doctrine that a national debt is a national blessing."

Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 303.

"I thank God, that if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit which would drag angels down."

Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 316.

"I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history; the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston and Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever."

Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 317.

"The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people."

Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 321.

"When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood."

Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. Vol. iii. p. 342.

"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable."

Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. Vol. iii. p. 342.

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."

Speech, June 3, 1834. Vol. iv. p. 47.

"Inconsistencies of opinion, arising from changes of circumstances, are often justifiable."

Speech, July 25 and 27, 1846. Vol. v. p. 187.

"I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American."

Speech, July 17, 1850. P. 437.

"There is no refuge from confession but suicide; and suicide is confession."

Argument on the Murder of Captain White, April 6, 1830. Vol. vi. p. 54.

"There is nothing so powerful as truth,--and often nothing so strange."

Argument on the Murder of Captain White. Vol. vi. p. 68.

"Fearful concatenation of circumstances."

Argument on the Murder of Captain White. Vol. vi. p. 88.

"A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed or duty violated is still with us, for our happiness or our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us."

Argument on the Murder of Captain White. Vol. vi. p. 105.

"I shall defer my visit to Faneuil Hall, the cradle of American liberty, until its doors shall fly open on golden hinges to lovers of Union as well as lovers of liberty."

Letter, April, 1851.

"Though man a thinking being is defined, Few use the grand prerogative of mind. How few think justly of the thinking few! How many never think, who think they do!"

Essays in Rhyme. (On Morals and Manners. Prejudice.) Essay i. Stanza 45.

"Far from mortal cares retreating, Sordid hopes and vain desires, Here, our willing footsteps meeting, Every heart to heaven aspires."

Hymn.

"I thank the goodness and the grace Which on my birth have smiled, And made me, in these Christian days, A happy Christian child."

A Child's Hymn of Praise.

"Oh that it were my chief delight To do the things I ought! Then let me try with all my might To mind what I am taught."

For a Very Little Child.

"Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or kiss the place to make it well? My mother."

My Mother.

"Failed the bright promise of your early day."

Palestine.