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

"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."

"It is with pious fraud as with a bad action; it begets a calamitous necessity of going on"

"Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch"

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."

"The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security."

"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind"

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary"

"These are times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country."

"He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird."