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A collection of notable quotations from a variety of Early Modern Era individuals. See the Guide for more details.
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National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.
— Letter to James Lloyd, January, 1815
— John Adams
National honor is the national property of the highest value.— James Monroe
Nations, like individuals in a state of nature, are equal and independent, possessing certain rights and owing certain duties to each other. — Millard Fillmore
Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. — Francis Bacon
Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?— Henry David Thoreau
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in the night. God said, Let Newton be! and all was light! — Alexander Pope
Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions.— Thomas Jefferson
Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.— Henry David Thoreau
Nature is God's. Art is man's instrument. — Thomas Overbury
Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished. — Francis Bacon
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution.— Henry David Thoreau
Nature was here a series of wonders, and a fund of delight. — Daniel Boone
Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.— Henry David Thoreau
Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. — Francis Bacon
Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.— Henry David Thoreau
Nearer the gods no mortal may approach.
— Preface, "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica," referring to Isaac Newton
— Edmond Halley
Necessity never made a good bargain.— Benjamin Franklin
Necessity, the mother of invention.
— Love in a Wood (1671), Act III, scene 3
— William Wycherley
Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who ... will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.
— Essay in the Public Advertiser, 1749
— Samuel Adams
Never confuse motion with action.— Benjamin Franklin
Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever was success so complete.— James Monroe
Never elated when someone's oppressed, never dejected when another one's blessed. — Alexander Pope
Never find fault with the absent. — Alexander Pope
Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight. — William Congreve
Never hurry. Take plenty of exercise. Always be cheerful. Take all the sleep you need. You may expect to be well. — James Freeman Clarke
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.— Benjamin Franklin
Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.— Henry David Thoreau
Never lose a chance of saying a kind word. — William Makepeace Thackeray
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.— Thomas Jefferson
Never spend your money before you have earned it.— Thomas Jefferson
Never take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.— Benjamin Franklin
Never take counsel of your fears.— Andrew Jackson
Never was it given to mortal man - To lie so boldly as we women can. — Alexander Pope
Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit — appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free....
— American account of the Battle of Lexington, April 26, 1775
— Joseph Warren
Next Monday the Convention in Virginia will assemble; we have still good hopes of its adoption here: though by no great plurality of votes. South Carolina has probably decided favourably before this time. The plot thickens fast. A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America for the present generation, and probably produce no small influence on the happiness of society through a long succession of ages to come.
— Letter to Marquis de Lafayette, May 28, 1788
— George Washington
Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice. — Francis Bacon
Night is certainly more novel and less profane than day.— Henry David Thoreau
Nine men in ten are would be suicides.— Benjamin Franklin
Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.— John Quincy Adams
No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.
— from Leviathan, 1651, Pt. I, ch. 13
— Thomas Hobbes
No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic, and certainly, to a kingdom or estate, a just and honourable war is the true exercise. — Francis Bacon
No compact among men... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.
— Draft of First Inaugural Address, April 1789
— George Washington
No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass.
— Letter to Benjamin Lincoln, June 29, 1788
— George Washington
No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying as to put the right man in the right place.— Thomas Jefferson
No evil can result from its inhibition more pernicious than its toleration.— Martin Van Buren
No expense has been incurred but what has been approved of and provided for by Parliament. — Robert Walpole
No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well.— Henry David Thoreau
No Freeman shall ever be disbarred from the use of arms. Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self-defense.— Thomas Jefferson
No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.— Thomas Jefferson
No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.
— Federalist No. 62, 1788
— Alexander Hamilton
No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not knock those who work with him. Don't knock your friends. Don't knock your enemies. Don't knock yourself. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson
No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.— Nathaniel Hawthorne
No man has any natural authority over his fellow men. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings. — Denis Diderot
No man in America ever strove more, and more successfully first to bring about a Congress in 1765, and then to support it ever afterwards than myself.— Christopher Gadsden
No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave.
— A Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress, etc., December 15, 1774
— Alexander Hamilton
No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.
— Federalist No. 10, November 23, 1787
— James Madison
No man not inspired can make a good speech without preparation.— Daniel Webster
No man who has not tried it can imagine what dreadful hard work it is to listen. Splitting gum logs in the dog days is child's play to it. I've tried both, and give the preference to the gum logs. — Davy Crockett
No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.— Thomas Jefferson
No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was every more clouded than the present! Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm.
— Letter to James Madison, November 5, 1786
— George Washington
No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.— James Madison
No nation was ever ruined by trade.— Benjamin Franklin
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.— Thomas Jefferson
No one could have less faith in the absolute and definitive importance of the work created by man, because I believe that this world is nothing but a dream — Gustave Moreau
No one ever became, or can become truly eloquent without being a reader of the Bible, and an admirer of the purity and sublimity of its language.— Fisher Ames
No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody.— Andrew Jackson
No one should be ashamed to admit he is wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. — Alexander Pope
No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable.
— Message to the House of Representatives, December 3, 1793
— George Washington
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.
— First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
— George Washington
No political truth is certainly of greater intrinsic value, or is stamped with the authority of more enlightened patrons of liberty than that on which the objection is founded. The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
— Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788
— James Madison
No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.— James K. Polk
No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant.
— Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
— George Washington
No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
No woman ever hates a man for being in love with her, but many a woman hate a man for being a friend to her. — Alexander Pope
No, I'm no enemy to learning; it hurts not me. — William Congreve
No, there's nothing half so sweet in life as love's young dream. — Thomas Moore
Nobody ever lost a dollar underestimating the taste of the American people.— P. T. Barnum
Nobody has any conscience about adding to the improbabilities of a marvelous tale.— Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.— Nathaniel Hawthorne
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.— Henry David Thoreau
Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to bind me in all cases whatsoever to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?
— The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776
— Thomas Paine
Not considering this opening worthy of more attention, I continued our pursuit to the Northwest, being desirous to embrace the advantages of the prevailing breeze — George Vancouver
Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.— Henry David Thoreau
Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance. — Alexander Pope
Not to know certain things is a great part of wisdom.— Hugo Grotius
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.— Henry David Thoreau
Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.— Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Nothing can atone for the lack of modesty; without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable. — Richard Steele
Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.— George Washington
Nothing can be more wounding to a spirit not ungenerous, than a generous forgiveness.
— Clarissa, 1747
— Samuel Richardson
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.— Thomas Jefferson
Nothing can tell us so much about the general lawlessness of humanity as a perfect acquaintance with our own immoderate behavior. If we would think over our own impulses, we would recognize in our own souls the guiding principle of all vices which we reproach in other people; and if it is not in our very actions, it will be present at least in our impulses. There is no malice that self-love will not offer to our spirits so that we may exploit any occasion, and there are few people virtuous enough not to be tempted. — Madeleine de Souvre
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise. — Francis Bacon
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.— Thomas Jefferson
Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.— Henry David Thoreau
Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Nothing has yet been offered to invalidate the doctrine that the meaning of the Constitution may as well be ascertained by the Legislative as by the Judicial authority.
— Speech in the Congress of the United States, June 18, 1789
— James Madison
Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue.
— The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776
— John Witherspoon
Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the character of public men.
— Letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775
— Samuel Adams
Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety. — Francis Bacon
Nothing is so contagious as opinion, especially on questions which, being susceptible of very different glosses, beget in the mind a distrust of itself.
— Letter to Benjamin Rush, March 7, 1790
— James Madison
Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.— Thomas Jefferson
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.— Henry David Thoreau
Nothing so much convinces me of the boundlessness of the human mind as its operations in dreaming.— William Benton Clulow
Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.
— speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1778
— George Mason
Notwithstanding this high Ecclesiastical authority, he who dared accept truth only because it could be proved, or proved to be good, and disregard authority, was commonly stigmatized as an infidel.— Ethan A. Hitchcock
Now is the seedtime of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now, will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound would enlarge with the tree, and posterity read in it full grown characters.
— Common Sense, 1776
— Thomas Paine
Now the Bible tells us that we are all by nature, sinners, that we are slaves to sin and Satan, and that unless we are converted, or born again, we must be miserable forever. — Jupiter Hammon
Now, as discord is allowable, and even necessarily opposed to concord, why may not noise, or a seeming jargon, be opposed to fixed sounds and harmonical proportion? Some of the discords in modern music, unknown till this century, are what the ear can but just bear, but have a very good effect as to contrast. The severe laws of preparing and resolving discord, may be too much adhered to for great effect; I am convinced that provided the ear be at length made amends, there are few dissonances too strong for it.
— The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771) pp. 152-3
— Charles Burney
Nullification means insurrection and war; and the other states have a right to put it down.— Andrew Jackson

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