John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 529
| John Caldwell Calhoun. (1782–1850) |
| 5492 |
| The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, 1 bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party. |
| Speech, Feb. 13, 1835. |
| 5493 |
| A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. 2 |
| Speech, May 27, 1836. |
| Daniel Webster. (1782–1852) |
| 5494 |
| Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens. |
| Speech at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820. Vol. i. p. 44. 3 |
| 5495 |
| We wish that this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute also to produce in all minds a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and the parting day linger and play on its summit! |
| Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. P. 62. |
| Note 1. See Appendix, Quotation 45. [back] |
| Note 2. From this comes the phrase, “Cohesive power of public plunder.” [back] |
| Note 3. This oration will be read five hundred years hence with as much rapture as it was heard. It ought to be read at the end of every century, and indeed at the end of every year, forever and ever.—John Adams: Letter to Webster, Dec. 23, 1821. [back] |