Daily Quote 8/20/2006

Mon. Aug. 14, 2006.
"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."

--Thomas Paine (Common Sense, 1776); Reference: Thomas Paine: Collected Writings , Foner ed., Library of America (44)

Tue. Aug. 15, 2006.
"[H]is was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quite and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example."

--Thomas Jefferson (on George Washington in a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, 2 January 1814); Reference: Jefferson: Writings, Peterson ed., Library of America (1319-20)

Wed. Aug. 16, 2006.
"A people...who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything."

--George Washington (letter to Benjamin Harrison, 10 October 1784)

Thu. Aug. 17, 2006.
"I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good, become honorable by being necessary."

--Nathan Hale (remark to Captain William Hull, who had attempted to dissuade him from volunteering for a spy mission for General Washington, September 1776)

Fri. Aug. 18, 2006.
"Wish not so much to live long as to live well."

--Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack, June 1746); Reference: Franklin: Writings, Lemay, Library of America (1209)

Category: Constitutional Issues.