"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

Speech to both Houses of Congress, Jan. 8, 1790.

"'T is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

His Farewell Address.

"The accident of an accident."

Speech in Reply to the Duke of Grafton. Butler's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 142.

"When I forget my sovereign, may my God forget me."

27 Parliamentary History, 680; Annual Register, 1789.

"Then join in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall."

The Liberty Song (1768).

"Our cause is just, our union is perfect."

Declaration on taking up Arms in 1775.

"The dews of summer nights did fall, The moon, sweet regent of the sky, Silvered the walls of Cumnor Hall And many an oak that grew thereby."

Cumnor Hall.

"For there 's nae luck about the house, There 's nae luck at a'; There 's little pleasure in the house When our gudeman 's awa'."

The Mariner's Wife.

"His very foot has music in 't As he comes up the stairs."

The Mariner's Wife.

"Cold on Canadian hills or Minden's plain, Perhaps that parent mourned her soldier slain; Bent o'er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew, The big drops mingling with the milk he drew Gave the sad presage of his future years,-- The child of misery, baptized in tears."

The Country Justice. Part i.

"Hope! thou nurse of young desire."

Love in a Village. Act i. Sc. 1.

"There was a jolly miller once, Lived on the river Dee; He worked and sung from morn till night: No lark more blithe than he."

Love in a Village. Act i. Sc. 2.

"And this the burden of his song Forever used to be,-- I care for nobody, no, not I, If no one cares for me."

Love in a Village. Act i. Sc. 2.

"Young fellows will be young fellows."

Love in a Village. Act ii. Sc. 2.

"Ay, do despise me! I 'm the prouder for it; I like to be despised."

The Hypocrite. Act v. Sc. 1.

"Ah, who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar?"

The Minstrel. Book i. Stanza 1.

"Zealous, yet modest; innocent, though free; Patient of toil, serene amidst alarms; Inflexible in faith, invincible in arms."

The Minstrel. Book i. Stanza 11.

"Old age comes on apace to ravage all the clime."

The Minstrel. Book i. Stanza 25.

"Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down, Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, With here and there a violet bestrewn, Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave; And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave!"

The Minstrel. Book ii. Stanza 17.

"At the close of the day when the hamlet is still, And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove, When naught but the torrent is heard on the hill, And naught but the nightingale's song in the grove."

The Hermit.

"He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man."

The Hermit.

"But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn? Oh when shall it dawn on the night of the grave?"

The Hermit.

"By the glare of false science betray'd, That leads to bewilder, and dazzles to blind."

The Hermit.

"And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb."

The Hermit.

"Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was 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."

Letter to Mrs. Adams, July 3, 1776.

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore."

Letter to Mrs. Adams, July 3, 1776.

"Cæsar had his Brutus; Charles the First, his Cromwell; and George the Third ["Treason!" cried the Speaker]--may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it."

Speech in the Virginia Convention, 1765.

"I am not a Virginian, but an American."

Speech in the Virginia Convention. September, 1774.

"I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past."

Speech in the Virginia Convention. March, 1775.

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

Speech in the Virginia Convention. March, 1775.

"The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. iii.

"Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xi.

"Amiable weaknesses of human nature."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xiv.

"In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xlviii.

"Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xlix.

"The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. lxviii.

"Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. lxxi.

"All that is human must retrograde if it do not advance."

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. lxxi.

"I saw and loved."

Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 106.

"On the approach of spring I withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure."

Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 116.

"I was never less alone than when by myself."

Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 117.

"And the final event to himself [Mr. Burke] has been, that, as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick."

Letter to the Addressers.

"These are the times that try men's souls."

The American Crisis. No. 1.

"The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again."

Age of Reason. Part ii. note.

"What rage for fame attends both great and small! Better be damned than mentioned not at all."

To the Royal Academicians.

"No, let the monarch's bags and others hold The flattering, mighty, nay, al-mighty gold."

To Kien Long. Ode iv.

"Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt, And every grin so merry draws one out."

Expostulatory Odes. Ode xv.

"A fellow in a market town, Most musical, cried razors up and down."

Farewell Odes. Ode iii.

"The tree of deepest root is found Least willing still to quit the ground: 'T was therefore said by ancient sages, That love of life increased with years So much, that in our latter stages, When pain grows sharp and sickness rages, The greatest love of life appears."

Three Warnings.

"Solid men of Boston, banish long potations! Solid men of Boston, make no long orations!"

Pitt and Dundas's Return to London from Wimbledon. American Song. From Lyra Urbanica.