“[death]...the abyss from where no traveler is permitted to return”

“Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.- March 15, 1783”

“If the cause is advanced, indifferent is it to me where or in what quarter it happens.”

“In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy.”

“Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?”

“Real men despise battle, but will never run from it.”

“99% of failures come from people who make excuses.”