Quotes by Henry Clay

An oppressed people are authorized whenever they can to rise and break their fetters.

Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.

I had rather be right than be President.

If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.

Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.

All legislation, all government, all society is founded upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these everything is based...Let him who elevates himself above humanity, above its weaknesses, its infirmities, its wants, its necessities, say, if he pleases, I will never compromise; but let no one who is not above the frailties of our common nature disdain compromises.

In all the affairs of life, social as well as political, courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest to the grateful and appreciating heart.