Quotes from David O. Stewart

As Dr. Franklin progressed through Philadelphia's republican streets, his regal trappings drove home the message that honor in America grew from talent, not birth.

by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions…which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.

Through a long life, Franklin had been forced by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions . . . which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.

The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.

A man's got to choose what matters to him. I made my choice. This matters.

I don't like it when really smart people do things that seem dumb. Makes me think I'm figuring something wrong.

In the impeachment crisis of 1868, none of the country's leaders was great, a few were good, all were angry, and far too many were despicable. Still, we survived.