"I consent Sir, to this Constitution because..." - Quote by Benjamin Franklin

“Hear no ill of a friend, nor speak any of an enemy.”

“Virtues, of ...Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”

“He that won't be counseled can't be helped. He that would have a short Lent, let him borrow Money to be repaid at Easter.”

“If virtuous, the government need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting the truth, either in religion, law, or politics.”

“Now that you're Secretary of War, what kind of an army do you think we ought to have?”

“Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.”

“In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.”

“With all the defects in our Constitution, whether general or particular, the comparison of our government with those of Europe, is like a comparison of Heaven with Hell. England, like the earth, may be allowed to take the intermediate station.”

“It will at least be a recommendation to the proposed constitution that it is provided with more checks and barriers against the introduction of tyranny, and those of a nature less liable to be surmounted, than any government hitherto instituted among mortals hath possessed.”