WIST Quotations

Webster, Daniel -- “The Character of Washington,” speech on G. Washington centennial, Washington, D.C. (22 Feb 1832)

Dave — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:10:07 +0000

Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it;… It were but a trifle even if the walls of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of demolished government? Who shall rear again the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty?… No, if these columns fall, they will be raised not again…. they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw, the edifice of constitutional American liberty.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
“The Character of Washington,” speech on G. Washington centennial, Washington, D.C. (22 Feb 1832)

Webster, Daniel -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
(Attributed)

Webster, Daniel -- Debate in US Senate, to Robert Young Hayne (26 Jan 1830)

Dave — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:24:29 +0000

It is, sir, the people’s Constitution, the people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Debate in US Senate, to Robert Young Hayne (26 Jan 1830)

Webster, Daniel -- Quoted in Niles’ National Register (5 Sep 1840)

Dave — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:02:00 +0000

It is only shallow-minded pretenders who either make distinguished origin a matter of personal merit, or obscure origin a matter of personal reproach. Taunt and scoffing at the humble condition of early life affect nobody in America but those who are foolish enough to indulge in them, and they are generally sufficiently punished by public rebuke. A man who is not ashamed of himself need not be ashamed of his early condition.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Quoted in Niles’ National Register (5 Sep 1840)

Webster, Daniel -- Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts

Dave — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 05:24:25 +0000

In the nature of things, those who have not property, and see their neighbors possess much more than they think they need, cannot be favorable to laws made for the protection of property. When this class becomes numerous, it glows clamorous. It looks on property as its prey and plunder, and is naturally ready, at all times, for violence and revolution.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts

On the bicentennial of the Pilgrims' landing in the New World.

Webster, Daniel -- Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts

Dave — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:32:34 +0000

At the moment when God in his mercy has blessed the Christian world with a universal peace, there is reason to fear, that, to the disgrace of the Christian name and character, new efforts are making for the extension of this [slave] trade by subjects and citizens of Christian states, in whose hearts there dwell no sentiments of humanity or of justice, and over whom neither the fear of God nor the fear of man exercises a control. In the sight of our law, the African slave-trader is a pirate and a felon; and in the sight of Heaven, an offender beyond the ordinary depth of human guilt.

Webster, Daniel -- Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts

Dave — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 23:05:18 +0000

The freest government, if it could exist, would not be long acceptable, if the tendency of the laws were to create a rapid accumulation of property in few hands, and to render the great mass of the population dependent and penniless.

Webster, Daniel -- Speech (3 Jun 1834)

Dave — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:33:25 +0000

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech (3 Jun 1834)

Webster, Daniel -- Speech, Bangor, Maine (25 Aug 1835)

Dave — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:09:42 +0000

Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech, Bangor, Maine (25 Aug 1835)