Source, in full
My general maxims of policy are, I believe, peculiar to myself. When I mentioned them to Mr. Adams, he was pleased to say that "if any nation could govern itself by them, it would command the world." Of this I am fully persuaded; but he has departed very far from them. All that I can expect is the fate of the poet Lee, who, when he was confined in a mad-house, and was asked by some stranger why he was sent thither, replied, "I said the world was mad, and the world said I was mad, and they outvoted me." My plan would prevent all war, and almost all taxes. But if the calamities of war, heavy taxation, the pestilence, &c., or any other evil, be required for the discipline of nations, as I believe that in the present state of things they are, they will be introduced for some cause or other...