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)
Quotations by:
Webster, Daniel
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
(Attributed)
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)
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)
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)
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)