Quotes from Noah Webster

The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all social transactions.

The heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.

In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character.

Unaffected modesty is the sweetest charm of female excellence, the richest gem in the diadem of her honor.

There iz no alternativ. Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force; and if a gradual reform should not be made in our language, it wil proov that we are less under the influence of reezon than our ancestors. [ This quote illustrates the reformed spelling advocated by Webster .]

Tyranny is the exercise of some power over a man, which is not warranted by law, or necessary for the public safety. A people can never be deprived of their liberties, while they retain in their own hands, a power sufficient to any other power in the state.

A pure democracy is generally a very bad government, It is often the most tyrannical government on earth; for a multitude is often rash, and will not hear reason.

The reasonableness of the command to obey parents is clear to children, even when quite young.

The foundation of all free government and all social order must be laid in families and in the discipline of youth. Young persons must not only be furnished with knowledge, but they must be accustomed to subordination and subjected to the authority and influence of good principles. It will avail little that youths are made to understand truth and correct principles, unless they are accustomed to submit to be governed by them.

Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.

When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country.

I]f the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.

The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society; the best book for regulating the temporal [secular] concerns of men.

But when thou findest sensibility of heart, joined with softness of manners, an accomplished mind, and religion, united with sweetness of temper, modest deportment, and a love of domestic life; such is the woman who will divide the sorrows and double the joys of thy life. Take her to thyself; she is worthy to be thy nearest friend, thy companion, the wife of thy bosom.

Facts which were new to me were daily presenting themselves to my mind.

Whether you reed or rite, accustom yourselves to stand at a high desk

when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.

Aam AAM, noun [Chaldee for a cubit, a measure containing 5 or 6 palms.] A measure of liquids among the Dutch equal to 288 English pints.

AB'ACOT, noun The cap of State, formerly used by English Kings, wrought into the figure of two crowns.

ABAC'TOR, noun [Latin from abigo, ab and ago, to drive.] In law, one that feloniously drives away or steals a herd or numbers of cattle at once, in distinction from one that steals a sheep or two.

ABAD'DON, noun [Hebrew Chaldee Syriac Samaritan to be lost, or destroyed, to perish.] 1. The destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit. Revelation 9. 2. The bottomless pit. Milton.

To exterminate our popular vices is a work of far more importance to the character and happiness of our citizens than any other improvements in our system of education.

The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all social transactions.

In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.