Your search for "good works" returned 46 results from 21 Founders.
William Penn:"Do they own work honestly and cheerfully: and when that is done, help they fellow; that so another time he may help thee."source: Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693.honesty, charity, benevolence, cheerfullness, good works
Thomas Jefferson:"When great evils happen, I am in the habit of looking out for what good may arise from them as consolations to us; and Providence has in fact so established the order of things as that most evils are the means of producing some good."source: To Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800.good vs. evil, positive outlook, optimism, providence
William Penn:"Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and soil it to their turn."source: Preface to the First Frame of Government for Pennsylvania, which was formally adopted in England, April 25, 1682.government, public, good vs. evil, corruption, success
William Penn:"A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it."source: Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693.the ends justify the means, goal setting and acheiving, good vs. evil
John Adams:"There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of people, or there can be no republication government nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures, passions, and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections, when they stand in competition with the rights of society."source: To Mercy Warren, 1776.patriotism, passion, duty, commitment, public good, pure intentions, honor, integrity, liberty
Samuel West:"But while we are nobly opposing with our lives and estates the tyranny of the British Parliament, let us not forget the duty which we owe to our lawful magistrates; let us never mistake licentiousness for liberty. The more we understand the principles of liberty, the more readily shall we yield obedience to lawful authority; for no man can oppose good government but he that is a stranger to true liberty."source: On the Right to Rebel Against Governors, May 29, 1776.liberty, tyranny, opression, good government
Benjamin Franklin:"A good example is the best sermon."source: Poor Richard's Almanack.good behaviour, examples, manners, the best kind of teacher
Alexander Hamilton:"The republican principle demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men, who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests. It is a just observation, that the people commonly INTEND the PUBLIC GOOD. This often applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator who should pretend that they always REASON RIGHT about the MEANS of promoting it."source: The Federalist Papers: No. 17good intentions, whims
Thomas Paine:"A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men. "source: The Crisis, 1777.good vs. evil, bad, wicked, corruption
Samuel Adams:"The Utopian schemes of leveling, and a community of goods, are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all property in the Crown. [These ideas] are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our government, unconstitutional."source: Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, 1:154.social justice, redistribution of goods and wealth, socialism, common good
Alexander Hamilton:"The true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration."source: The Federalist Papers, 1787.government, administration, president, cabinet members, democracy
George Washington:"There is no saying to what length an enterprising man may push his good fortune."source: To John Lathrop, June 22, 1788.ambition, goals, goal-setting, to be driven, captilisim
Silas Downer:"When we view this country in its extent and variety of climates, soils, and produce, we ought to be exceeding thankful to divine goodness in bestowing it upon our forefathers, and giving it as an heritage for their children. We may call it the promised land, a good land and a large--a land of hills and vallies, of rivers, brooks, and springs of water--a land of milk and honey, and wherein we may eat bread to the full. A land whose stones are iron, the most useful material in all nature, and of other choice mines and minerals; and a land whose rivers and adjacent seas are stored with the best of fish. In a word, no part of the habitable world can boast of so many natural advantages as this northern part of America."source: Discourse at the Dedication of the Tree of Liberty, 1768.America, patriotism, promised land, rich in resources
George Washington:"Associate yourself with Men of good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad Company."source: Rules of Civility, 1745.bad company, behavior, friends, friendship, honesty, associations
Thomas Jefferson:"Nothing would do more extensive good at small expense than the establishment of a small circulating library in every county."source: To John Wyche, 1809.books, education, library, communities
William Penn:"Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good."source: Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693.charity, benevolence
Patrick Henry:"Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty! I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt."source: Elliot, 3:59loss of freedom, rights, dependency, watchfulness, checks and balances, entrust
John Adams:"A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal."source: Thoughts on Government, 1776principles, ambition, freemen
Benjamin Franklin:"Marriage is the proper remedy. It is the most natural state of man, and therefore the state in which you are most likely to find solid happiness. Your reasons against entering into it at present appear to me not well founded. The circumstantial advantages you have in view by postponing it are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the man and woman united that make the complete human being. Separate, she wants his force of body and strength of reason; he, her softness, sensibility, and acute discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the world. A single man has not nearly the value he would have in that state of union. He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair of scissors. If you get a prudent, healthy wife, your industry in your profession, with her good economy, will be a fortune sufficient. "source: Koch, The American Enlightenment, p. 70. (In a letter to a young friend to dissuade the man from taking a mistress.)importance of marriage, companionship, gay marriage, adultery, man and woman
Thomas Jefferson:"He is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad."source: To John Adams, August 27, 1786modesty, gossip, hearsay, happiness
Benjamin Franklin:"Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion."source: Smyth, Writing of Benjamin Franklin, 10:84.God, religion, beliefs of the Founders, justice, service
Thomas Jefferson:"Our greatest happiness ... does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation and freedom in all just pursuits."source: "Notes on Virginia" 1782.happiness, condition, health care, freedom, occupation, chance, circumstance, handouts
William Penn:"Love labour: for if thou dost not want it for food, thou mayest for physic. It is wholesome for thy body, and good for thy mind. It prevents the fruits of idleness, which many times comes of nothing to do, and leads too many to do what is worse than nothing."source: Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693.labor, work, idleness, handouts, prosperity
George Washington:"That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment to use arms in defence of so valuable a blessing [as liberty], on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms ... should be the last resort."source: To George Mason, April 5, 1769.liberty, defence, tyranny, right to bear arms
George Washington:"If in the opinion of the People, the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instument of good, it is the custonary weapon by which free governments are destroyed."source: Farewell Address, September 17, 1796.majority vote, constitution, rights, freedom, gonverment
Sarah Updike Goddard:"[E]very one who takes delight in publicly or privately taking away any person's good name, or striving to render him ridiculous, are in the fall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity, whatever their presences may be for it."source: Letter to her son, William Goddard, 1765.personal respect, personal attacks, communication, conflict resolution
William Penn:"Believe nothing against another, but upon good authority: nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to others to conceal it."source: Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693.envy, malace, gossip
William Penn:"Jealousy is a kind of civil war in the soul, where judgment and imagination are at perpetual wars. This civil dissension in the mind, like that of the body politic, commits great disorders, and lays all waste. Nothing stands safe in its way: nature, interest, religion, must yield to its fury. It violates contract, dissolves society, breaks wedlock, betrays friends and neighbors. No body is good, and every one is either doing or designing them a mischief."source: More Fruits of Solitude, 1702.envy, malace, jealousy, hatred, trust, honesty
James Madison:"This belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it. ... This finiteness of the Human understanding betrays itself on all subjects, but more especially when it contemplates such as involve infinity. What may safely be said seems to be, that the infinity of time and space forces itself on our conception, a limitation of either being inconceivable: that the mind prefers at once the idea of a self existing cause to that of an infinite series of cause and effect, which arguments, instead of avoiding the difficulty: and that it finds more facility in assenting to the self existence of an invisible cause possessing infinite power, wisdom and goodness, than to the self existence of the universe, visibly destitute of those attributes, and which may be the effect of them."source: To Frederick Beasley, November 29, 1825.God, providence, wisdom, eternity, infinity, man's mere existence
John Jay:"What reason is there to expect that Heaven will help those who refuse to help themselves; or that Providence will grant liberty to those who want courage to defend it. ... Let not the history of the present glorious contest declare to future generations that the people of your country, after making the highest professions of zeal for the American cause, fled at the first apprearance of danger, and behaved like women. ... Instead of supplicating the protection of your enemies, meet them with arms in your hands--make good your professions, and let not your attachment to freedom be manifesteed only in your words."source: To the General Commitee of Tryon County, July 22, 1777.Providence, patriotism, defense, honor
James Monroe:"Great calamities make appeals to the benevolence of mankind, which ought not to be resisted. Good offices in such emergencies exalt the character of the party rendering them. By exciting grateful feelings, they soften the intercourse between nations, and tend to prevent war."source: Message to Congress, May 4, 1822.war, peace, calamities, natural disaster, charity, benevolence
Thomas Jefferson:"I think with you, that it is a good world on the whole; that it has been framed on a principle of benevolence, and more pleasure than pain dealt out to us. There are, indeed, (who might say nay) gloomy and hypochondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the present, and despairing of the future; always counting that the worst will happen, because it may happen. To these I say, how much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened! My temperament is sanguine. I steer my bark with Hope in the head, leaving Fear in the stern. My hopes, indeed somtimes fail; but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy. There are, some terrible convulsions, heavy setoffs against the opposite page of the account."source: To John Adams, April 1816.pessimism, optimism, hope, determination, having a positive outlook, the secret
John Adams:"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it! If you do not, I shall repent it in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it!"source: To Abigail Adams, 1777.preservation of freedom, liberty, patriot, posterity
George Washington:"It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones."source: To James McHenry August 10, 1798commitment, honor, honesty, dignity, character
Gouverneur Morris:"The reflection and experience of many years have led me to consider the holy writings not only as the most authentic and instructive in themselves, but as the clue to all other history. They tell us what man is, and they alone tell us why he is what he is: a contradictory creature that seeing and approving of what is good, pursues and performs what is evil. All of private and public life is there displayed. ... From the same pure fountain of wisdom we learn that vice destroys freedom; that arbitrary power is founded on public immorality."source: Collections of the New York historical Society for the Year 1821", (New York: E. Bliss and E. White, 1821), p. 30, from "An Inaugural Discourse Delivered Before the New York Historical Society byt the Honorable Gouverneur Morris", September 4, 1816Public morality, morality, Public Virtue, Separation of Church and State
Gouverneur Morris:"Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man toward God."source: The Life of Governeur Morris", Jared Sparks, (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1832), Vol. III, p. 483, from his "Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France" Religion, Morals, education
John Adams:"Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God. [...] Let it be known that British liberties are not grants of princes and parliaments."source: Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law 1765religious freedom, providence
Benjamin Franklin:"The diversity of opinions turns on two points. If a proportional representation takes place, the small states contend that their liberties will be in danger. If an equality of votes is to be put in its place, the large states say their money will be in danger. When a broad table is to be made, and the edges of planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both and makes a good joint. In like manner, here, both sides must part from some of their demands in order that they may join in some accommodating proposition."source: Ibid., p. 196.design of government, compromise, give and take
George Washington:"The distinction between a well-regulated army and a mob is the good order and discipline of the first and the licentious and disorderly behavior of the latter."source: To Israel Putnam, 1776.war, conflict, military, disorder, mobs
Charles Carroll:"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to be good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."source: Letter to James McHenry, November 4, 1800.morals, religion, freedom, happiness, christianity
Daniel Webster:"Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens."source: Speech at Plymouth, December 22, 1820.faith, religion, character, morals, christianity
Benjamin Franklin:"Necessity never made a good bargain."source: Poor Richard's Almanack, 1735.necessity, trade
Rev. Jonathan Mayhew:"To a generous mind, the public good, as it is the end of government, so it is also such a noble and excellent one, that the prospect of attaining it will animate the pursuit, and being attained, it will reward the pains. The very name of patriotism is indeed become a jest with some men; which would be much stranger than it is, had not so many others made a jest of the thing, serving their own base and wicked ends, under the pretext and colour of it. But there will be hypocrites in politicks, as well as in religion. Nor ought so sacred a name to fall into contempt, however it may have been prostituted & profaned, to varnish over crimes. And those times are perilous indeed, wherein men shall be only lover of their own selves, having no concern for the good of the public. Shall we go to the pagans to learn this god-like virtue? Even they can teach it. ... [A Christian lacking patriotism] ... would be a reporach not only to his religion, a religion of charity and beneficence, but even to our own common nature, as corrupt and depraved as it is. But how much more infamous were this, in persons of public character? in those, on whom the welfare of their country, under providence, immediately depends?"source: Election sermon, 1754.patriotism, hypocrites, politics, christianity
James Otis:"The only [worthy] principles of public conduct ... are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country. These manly sentiments, in private life, make the good citizen in public life, the patiot and the hero."source: Statement in court opposing "Writs of Assistance," 1761.patriotism, sacrifice, hero, patriot
George Mason:"He would, if interrogated, be obliged to declare that his political opinions at the age of twenty-one were too crude and erroneous to merit an influence on public measures. It had been said that Congress had proved a good school for our young men. It might be so, for anything he knew; but if it were, he chose that they should bear the expense of their own education."source: Madison, p. 149maturity, representative, accountability, responsibility, election
Thomas Jefferson:"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions."source: Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-1785.lies, falsehoods, truth, trust, honesty, integrity

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