List of George Mason Quotes

We Owe To Our Mother-country The Duty Of Subjects But Will Not Pay Her The Submission Of Slaves.

I Determined To Spend The Remainder Of My Days In Privacy And Retirement With My Children, From Whose Society Alone I Cou'd Expect Comfort.

I Retired From Public Business From A Thorough Conviction That It Was Not In My Power To Do Any Good, And Very Much Disgusted With Measures, Which Appeared To Me Inconsistent With Common Policy And Justice.

I Have Been For Some Time In Retirement, And Shall Not Probably Return Again To Public Life; Yet My Anxiety For My Country, In These Times Of Danger, Makes Me Sometimes Dabble A Little In Politicks, And Keep Up A Correspondence With Some Men Upon The Public Stage.

I Thank God, I Have Been Able, By Adopting Principles Of Strict Economy And Frugality, To Keep My Principal, I Mean My Country-estate, Unimpaired.

One Of The First Principles Of Decorative Art Is That In All Manufactures Ornament Must Hold A Place Subordinate To That Of Utility; And When, By Its Exuberance, Ornament Interferes With Utility, It Is Misplaced And Vulgar.

That No Man, Or Set Of Men, Are Entitled To Exclusive Or Separate Emoluments Or Privileges From The Community, But In Consideration Of Public Services; Which, Not Being Descendible, Neither Ought The Offices Of Magistrate, Legislator, Or Judge To Be Hereditary.

I Quitted My Seat In The House Of Delegates, From A Conviction That I Was No Longer Able To Do Any Essential Service.

I Wish I Knew Where To Get A Good One Myself; For I Find Cold Sheets Extreamly Disagreeable.

Is It To Be Expected That The Southern States Will Deliver Themselves Bound Hand And Foot To The Eastern States? A Few Rich Merchants In Philadelphia, Boston, And New York Could Thereby Monopolise The Staples Of The Southern States And Reduce Their Value.

This Cold Weather Has Set All The Young Folks To Providing Bedfellows. I Have Signed Two Or Three Licences Every Day [as A Fairfax Justice Of The Peace] Since I Have Been At Home. I Wish I Knew Where To Get A Good One Myself; For I Find Cold Sheets Extreamly Disagreeable.

That The People Have A Right To Uniform Government; And, Therefore, That No Government Separate From, Or Independent Of The Government Of Virginia, Ought To Be Erected Or Established Within The Limits Thereof.