Daniel Webster (1782-1852)

Quotes

• I mistrust the judgment of every man in a case in which his own wishes are concerned.

• If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and instill into them just principles, we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time will efface, but will brighten and brighten to all eternity.

• It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence now and independence forever.

• Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together.

• Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.

• The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.

• Wisdom begins at the end.

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

• Philosophical argument has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith that was in me; but my heart has always assured me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be reality.

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