Mercy Otis Warren Quotes
The origin of all power is in the people, and they have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation.
The waves have rolled upon me, the billows are repeatedly broken over me, yet I am not sunk down.
No republic ever yet stood on a stable foundation without satisfying the common people.
It may be a mistake, that man, in a state of nature, is more disposed to cruelty than courtesy
The British were indeed very far superior to the Americans in every respect necessary to military operations, except the revivified courage and resolution, the result of sudden success after despair.
The study of the human character opens at once a beautiful and a deformed picture of the soul.
Mankind may amuse themselves with theoretic systems of liberty... but we can only discern its true value by the practical and wretched effects of slavery.
The bulk of mankind have indeed, in all countries in their turn, been made the prey of ambition.
I am more and more convinced, of the propensity in human nature to tyranize over their fellow men.
Great advantages are often attended with great inconveniences, and great minds called to severe trials.
A superfluity of wealth, and a train of domestic slaves, naturally banish a sense of general liberty, and nourish the seeds of that kind of independence that usually terminates in aristocracy.
The love of domination and an uncontrolled lust of arbitrary power have prevailed among all nations and perhaps in proportion to the degrees of civilization.
But truth is most likely to be exhibited by the general sense of contemporaries, when the feelings of the heart can be expressed without suffering itself to be disguised by the prejudices of man.
General Washington had rather incautiously encamped the bulk of his army on Long Island - a large and plentiful district about two miles from the city of New York
On the evening of December 25, General Washington in a most severe season crossed the Delaware with a part of his army, then reduced to less than 2000 men in the whole.
Public emergencies may require the hand of severity to fall heavily on those who are not personally guilty, but compassion prompts, and ever urges to milder methods
The defeat of the Americans in Canada and the advantages gained by the British arms in the Jerseys, and indeed for some months in every other quarter, gave to the royal cause an air of triumph.
It may be a mistake, that man, in a state of nature, is more disposed to cruelty than courtesy.