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Almighty God Hath Created The Mind Free. All Attempts To Influence It By Temporal Punishments Or Burthens...are A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion...no Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Religious Worship Or Ministry Or Shall Otherwise Suffer On Account Of His Religious Opinions Or Belief, But All Men Shall Be Free To Profess And By Argument To Maintain, Their Opinions In Matters Of Religion. I Know But One Code Of Morality For Men Whether Acting Singly Or Collectively.

-Thomas Jefferson

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Almighty God Hath Created

Thomas Jefferson

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Almighty God Hath Created The Mind Free. All Attempts To Influence It By Temporal Punishments Or Burthens...are A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion...no Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Religious Worship Or Ministry Or Shall Otherwise Suffer On Account Of His Religious Opinions Or Belief, But All Men Shall Be Free To Profess And By Argument To Maintain, Their Opinions In Matters Of Religion. I Know But One Code Of Morality For Men Whether Acting Singly Or Collectively.

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I Have Been Long Sensible That While I Was Endeavoring To Render Our Country The Greatest Of All Services, That Of Regenerating The Public Education, And Placing Our Rising Generation On The Level Of Our Sister States (which They Have Proudly Held Heretofore), I Was Discharging The Odious Function Of A Physician Pouring Medicine Down The Throat Of A Patient Insensible Of Needing It.

Our Fellow-citizens Think They Have A Right To Full Information, In A Case Of Such Great Concernment To Them. It Is Their Sweat Which Is To Earn All The Expenses Of The War, And Their Blood Which Is To Flow In Expiation Of The Causes Of It.

As, For The Safety Of Society, We Commit Honest Maniacs To Bedlam, So Judges Should Be Withdrawn From Their Bench, Whose Erroneous Biases Are Leading Us To Dissolution. It May Indeed Injure Them In Fame Or In Fortune; But It Saves The Republic, Which Is The First And Supreme Law.

When Great Evils Happen, I Am In The Habit Of Looking Out For What Good May Arise From Them As Consolations To Us, And Providence Has In Fact So Established The Order Of Things, As That Most Evils Are The Means Of Producing Some Good.

My Religious Reading Has Long Been Confined To The Moral Branch Of Religion, Which Is The Same In All Religions; While In That Branch Which Consists Of Dogmas, All Differ[.

There Is Not A Truth Existing Which I Fear... Or Would Wish Unknown To The Whole World.

Exercise And Application Produce Order In Our Affairs, Health Of Body, Cheerfulness Of Mind, And These Make Us Precious To Our Friends

It Is A Moot Question Whether The Origin Of Any Kind Of Property Is Derived From Nature At All. It Is Agreed By Those Who Have Seriously Considered The Subject That No Individual Has, Of Natural Right, A Separate Property In An Acre Of Land, For Instance. By A Universal Law, Indeed, Whatever, Whether Fixed Or Movable, Belongs To All Men Equally And In Common Is The Property For The Moment Of Him Who Occupies It; But When He Relinquishes The Occupation, The Property Goes With It. Stable Ownership Is The Gift Of Social Law, And Is Given Late In The Progress Of Society.

Progress Of Society

Specie [gold And Silver Coin] Is The Most Perfect Medium Because It Will Preserve Its Own Level; Because, Having Intrinsic And Universal Value, It Can Never Die In Our Hands, And It Is The Surest Resource Of Reliance In Time Of War.

Difference Of Opinion Leads To Inquiry, And Inquiry To The Truth.

Whensoever The General Government Assumes Undelegated Powers, Its Acts Are Unauthoritative, Void, And Of No Force.

Governments Constantly Choose Between Telling Lies And Fighting Wars, With The End Result Always Being The Same. One Will Always Lead To The Other.

There Is No King, Who, With Sufficient Force, Is Not Always Ready To Make Himself Absolute.

What An Augmentation Of The Field For Jobbing, Speculating, Plundering, Office-building And Office-hunting Would Be Produced By An Assumption Of All The State Powers Into The Hands Of The General Government.

We Are Firmly Convinced, And We Act On That Conviction, That With Nations As With Individuals Our Interests Soundly Calculated Will Ever Be Found Inseparable From Our Moral Duties, And History Bears Witness To The Fact That A Just Nation Is Trusted On Its Word When Recourse Is Had To Armaments And Wars To Bridle Others.

I Have Wished To See Chemistry Applied To Domestic Objects, To Malting, For Instance, Brewing, Making Cider, To Fermentation And Distillation Generally, To The Making Of Bread, Butter, Cheese, Soap, To The Incubation Of Eggs, &c.

No One Has A Right To Obstruct Another Exercising His Faculties Innocently For The Relief Of Sensibilities Made A Part Of His Nature.

By Nature's Law, Man Is At Peace With Man Till Some Aggression Is Committed, Which, By The Same Law, Authorizes One To Destroy Another As His Enemy.

I Cannot Live Without Books.

It Is Left... To The Juries, If They Think The Permanent Judges Are Under Any Bias Whatever In Any Cause, To Take On Themselves To Judge The Law As Well As The Fact. They Never Exercise This Power But When They Suspect Partiality In The Judges; And By The Exercise Of This Power They Have Been The Firmest Bulwarks Of English Liberty.

Delay Is Preferable To Error.

Yet By Such Worthless Beings Is A Great Nation To Be Governed And Even Made To Deify Their Old King Because He Is Only A Fool And A Maniac, And To Forgive And Forget His Having Lost To Them A Great And Flourishing Empire.

Forgive And Forget

The Mass Of Mankind Has Not Been Born With Saddles On Their Backs, Nor A Favored Few Booted And Spurred, Ready To Ride Them Legitimately, By The Grace Of God.

I Trust There Is Not A Young Man Now Living In The United States Who Will Not Die A Unitarian.

There Is Not One Redeeming Feature In Our Superstition Of Christianity. It Has Made One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites.

When Once A Republic Is Corrupted, There Is No Possibility Of Remedying Any Of The Growing Evils But By Removing The Corruption And Restoring Its Lost Principles; Every Other Correction Is Either Useless Or A New Evil.

The Declaration That Religious Faith Shall Be Unpunished Does Not Give Immunity To Criminal Acts Dictated By Religious Error.

I Have Much Confidence That We Shall Proceed Successfully For Ages To Come. My Hope Of Its Duration Is Built Much On The Enlargement Of The Resources Of Life Going Hand In Hand With The Enlargement Of Territory.

For St. Paul Only Says That It Is Better To Be Married Than To Burn. Now I Presume That If That Apostle Had Known That Providence Would At An After Day Be So Kind To Any Particular Set Of People As To Furnish Them With Other Means Of Extinguishing Their Fire Than Those Of Matrimony, He Would Have Earnestly Recmmended Them To Their Practice.

We Discover In The Gospels A Groundwork Of Vulgar Ignorance, Of Things Impossible, Of Superstition, Fanaticism And Fabrication .

[if] The Nature Of ... Government [were] A Subordination Of The Civil To The Ecclesiastical Power, I [would] Consider It As Desperate For Long Years To Come. Their Steady Habits [will] Exclude The Advances Of Information, And They [will] Seem Exactly Where They [have Always Been]. And There [the] Clergy Will Always Keep Them If They Can. [they] Will Follow The Bark Of Liberty Only By The Help Of A Tow-rope.

Who Will Govern The Governors? There Is Only One Force In The Nation That Can Be Depended Upon To Keep The Government Pure And The Governors Honest, And That Is The People Themselves. They Alone, If Well Informed, Are Capable Of Preventing The Corruption Of Power, And Of Restoring The Nation To Its Rightful Course If It Should Go Astray. They Alone Are The Safest Depository Of The Ultimate Powers Of Government.

A Lively And Lasting Sense Of Filial Duty Is More Effectually Impressed On The Mind Of A Son Or Daughter By Reading King Lear, Than By All The Dry Volumes Of Ethics, And Divinity That Ever Were Written.

Certainly One Of The Highest Duties Of The Citizen Is A Scrupulous Obedience To The Laws Of The Nation. But It Is Not The Highest Duty.

If You Have To Eat Crow, Eat It While It's Young And Tender.

The Cornerstone Of Democracy Rests On The Foundation Of An Educated Electorate.

Were Parties Here Divided Merely By A Greediness For Office,...to Take A Part With Either Would Be Unworthy Of A Reasonable Or Moral Man.

Those Who Labour In The Earth Are The Chosen People Of God, If Ever He Had A Chosen, People, Whose Breasts He Has Made His Peculiar Deposit For Substantial And Genuine Virtue.

Do Not Write Me Studied Letters But Ramble As You Please.

Books Constitute Capital. A Library Book Lasts As Long As A House, For Hundreds Of Years. It Is Not, Then, An Article Of Mere Consumption But Fairly Of Capital, And Often In The Case Of Professional Men, Setting Out In Life, It Is Their Only Capital.

The Attempt Of Lavoisier To Reform Chemical Nomenclature Is Premature. One Single Experiment May Destroy The Whole Filiation Of His Terms; And His String Of Sulphates, Sulphites, And Sulphures, May Have Served No End Than To Have Retarded The Progress Of Science By A Jargon, From The Confusion Of Which Time Will Be Requisite To Extricate Us.

When The Subject Is Strong, Simplicity Is The Only Way To Treat It.

Agriculture Is Our Wisest Pursuit, Because It Will In The End Contribute Most To Real Wealth, Good Morals, And Happiness.

Opinion, And The Just Maintenance Of It, Shall Never Be A Crime In My View.

Man [is] A Rational Animal, Endowed By Nature With Rights And With An Innate Sense Of Justice.

We Love And We Value Peace; We Know Its Blessings From Experience. We Abhor The Follies Of War, And Are Not Untried In Its Distresses And Calamities.

We Are Destined To Be A Barrier Against The Return Of Ignorance And Barbarism. Old Europe Will Have To Lean On Our Shoulders, And To Hobble Along By Our Side, Under The Monkish Trammels Of Priests And Kings, As She Can. What A Colossus Shall We Be When The Southern Continent Comes Up To Our Mark! What A Stand Will It Seem As A Ralliance For The Reason And Freedom Of The Globe!

So, Ask The Travelled Inhabitant Of Any Nation, In What Country On Earth Would You Rather Live? — Certainly, In My Own, Where Are All My Friends, My Relations, And The Earliest And Sweetest Affections And Recollections Of My Life. Which Would Be Your Second Choice? France.

In A Virtuous And Free State, No Rewards Can Be So Pleasing To Sensible Minds, As Those Which Include The Approbation Of Our Fellow Citizens. My Great Pain Is, Lest My Poor Endeavours Should Fall Short Of The Kind Expectations Of My Country.

The Basis Of Our Governments Being The Opinion Of The People, The Very First Object Should Be To Keep That Right; And Were It Left To Me To Decide Whether We Should Have A Government Without Newspapers Or Newspapers Without A Government, I Should Not Hesitate A Moment To Prefer The Latter. But I Should Mean That Every Man Should Receive Those Papers And Be Capable Of Reading Them.

The Genius Of Architecture Seems To Have Shed Its Maledictions Over This Land.

All Persons Shall Have Full And Free Liberty Of Religious Opinion; Nor Shall Any Be Compelled To Frequent Or Maintain Any Religious Institution.

A Lottery Is A Salutary Instrument And A Tax... Laid On The Willing Only, That Is To Say, On Those Who Can Risk The Price Of A Ticket Without Sensible Injury, For The Possibility Of A Higher Prize.

I Do Not Know Whether You Are Fond Of Chemical Reading. There Are Some Things In This Science Worth Reading.

...is The Spirit Of The People An Infallible, A Permanent Reliance? ...the Spirit Of The Times May Alter, Will Alter. Our Rulers Will Become Corrupt, Our People Careless.

Whenever You Are To Do A Thing, Though It Can Never Be Known But To Yourself, Ask Yourself How You Would Act Were All The World Looking At You, And Act Accordingly.

Truth And Reason Are Eternal. They Have Prevailed. And They Will Eternally Prevail; However, In Times And Places They May Be Overborne For A While By Violence, Military, Civil, Or Ecclesiastical.

I Tremble For My Country When I Reflect That God Is Just: That His Justice Cannot Sleep Forever: That, Considering Numbers, Nature, And Natural Means Only, A Revolution Of The Wheel Of Fortune, An Exchange Of Situation, Is Among Possible Events: That It May Become Probable By Supernatural Interference! The Almighty Has No Attribute Which Can Take Side With Us In Such A Contest.

Democracy Is 51% Of The People Taking Away The Rights Of The Other 49%.

Ours Are The Only Farmers Who Can Read Homer

The Fumes Of The Most Disordered Imaginations Were Recorded In Their Religious Code, As Special Communications Of The Deity; And As It Could Not But Happen That, In The Course Of Ages, Events Would Now And Then Turn Up To Which Some Of These Vague Rhapsodies Might Be Accommodated By The Aid Of Allegories, Figures, Types, And Other Tricks Upon Words, They Have Not Only Preserved Their Credit With The Jews Of All Subsequent Times, But Are The Foundation Of Much Of The Religions Of Those Who Have Schismatised From Them.

Every Man Has Two Countries: His Own And France.

Countries Of The World

Health Is Value Greater Than Studying.

Force Cannot Give Right.

That One Hundred And Fifty Lawyers Should Do Business Together Ought Not To Be Expected.

Reason And Free Inquiry Are The Only Effective Agents Against Error. Give A Loose To Them, They Will Support The True Religion By Bringing Every False One To Their Tribunal, To The Test Of Their Investigation. They Are The Natural Enemies Of Error And Error Only. Had Not The Roman Government Permitted Free Inquiry, Christianity Could Never Have Been Introduced. Had Not Free Inquiry Been Indulged At The Era Of The Reformation, The Corruption Of Christianity Could Not Have Been Purged Away.

Sensibility Of Mind Is Indeed The Parent Of Every Virtue, But It Is The Parent Of Much Misery, Too.

All We Can Do Is To Make The Best Of Our Friends, Love And Cherish What Is Good In Them, And Keep Out Of The Way What Is Bad.

Can One Generation Bind Another, And All Others, In Succession Forever? I Think Not. The Creator Has Made The Earth For The Living, Not The Dead. Rights And Powers Can Only Belong To Persons, Not To Things, Not To Mere Matter Endowed With Will...nothing Is Unchangeable But The Inherent And Unalienable Rights Of Man.

My Views And Feelings (are) In Favor Of The Abolition Of War-and I Hope It Is Practicable, By Improving The Mind And Morals Of Society, To Lessen The Disposition To War; But Of Its Abolition I Despair.

Law Is Often The Tyrant's Will, And Always So When It Violates The Right Of An Individual.

Inalienable Rights

Everyone Must Act According To The Dictates Of His Own Reason.

Never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You.

Without Society, And A Society To Our Taste, Men Are Never Contented.

A Nation's Best Defense Is An Educated Citizenry

Many Of The Opposition [to The New Federal Constitution] Wish To Take From Congress The Power Of Internal Taxation. Calculation Has Convinced Me That This Would Be Very Mischievous.

Idleness Begets Ennui, Ennui The Hypochondriac, And That A Diseased Body. No Laborious Person Was Ever Yet Hysterical.

The Provisions We Have Made [for Our Government] Are Such As Please Ourselves; They Answer The Substantial Purposes Of Government And Of Justice, And Other Purposes Than These Should Not Be Answered.

An Injured Friend Is The Bitterest Of Foes.

Bind Them Down By The Chains Of The Constitution Where They Can Do No Mischief.

I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God.

Truth Is The Proper And Sufficient Antagonist To Error, And Has Nothing To Fear From The Conflict, Unless, By Human Interposition, Disarmed Of Her Natural Weapons, Free Argument And Debate; Errors Ceasing To Be Dangerous When It Is Permitted Freely To Contradict Them.

The Creator Has Not Thought Proper To Mark Those In The Forehead Who Are Of Stuff To Make Good Generals. We Are First, Therefore, To Seek Them Blindfold, And Then Let Them Learn The Trade At The Expense Of Great Losses.

We Do Not Mean To Count Or Weigh Our Contributions By Any Standard Other Than That Of Our Abilities.

The Variety Of Opinions Leads To Questions. Questions Lead To Truth.

All Eyes Are Opened, Or Opening, To The Rights Of Man. The General Spread Of The Light Of Science Has Already Laid Open To Every View. The Palpable Truth, That The Mass Of Mankind Has Not Been Born With Saddles On Their Backs, Nor A Favored Few Booted And Spurred, Ready To Ride Them Legitimately, By The Grace Of God. These Are Grounds Of Hope For Others. For Ourselves, Let The Annual Return Of This Day Forever Refresh Our Recollections Of These Rights, And An Undiminished Devotion To Them.

I Consider The Doctrines Of Jesus As Delivered By Himself To Contain The Outlines Of The Sublimest System Of Morality That Has Ever Been Taught But I Hold In The Most Profound Detestation And Execration The Corruptions Of It Which Have Been Invented.

When Earth Is Rich It Bids Defiance To Droughts, Yields In Abundance And Of The Best Quality.

The Declaration Of Independence . . . [is The] Declaratory Charter Of Our Rights, And The Rights Of Man.

[my] Pillar Of Support Through Life.... I Can Say Conscientiously That I Do Not Know In The World A Man Of Purer Integrity, More Dispassionate, Disinterested, And Devoted To Genuine Republicanism; Nor Could I In The Whole Scope Of America And Europe Point Out An Abler Head.

We Are Not Immortal Ourselves, My Friend; How Can We Expect Our Enjoyments To Be So? We Have No Rose Without Its Thorn; No Pleasure Without Alloy. It Is The Law Of Our Existence; And We Must Acquiesce.

Those Who Have Once Got An Ascendancy, And Possessed Themselves Of All The Resources Of The Nation, Their Revenues And Offices, Have Immense Means For Retaining Their Advantage.

In The Spring He Will Attend Your Botanical Course. His Natural Turn Is Very Strongly To The Objects Of Your Two Courses Of Lectures, And I Hope You Will Have Reason To Be Contended With His Capacity & Character.

Let Your Gun Therefore Be Your Constant Companion Of Your Walks.

Second Amendment

We Have Counted The Cost Of This Contest, And Find Nothing So Dreadful As Voluntary Slavery.-honor, Justice, And Humanity, Forbid Us Tamely To Surrender That Freedom Which We Received From Our Gallant Ancestors, And Which Our Innocent Posterity Have A Right To Receive From Us. We Cannot Endure The Infamy And Guilt Of Resigning Succeeding Generations To That Wretchedness Which Inevitably Awaits Them, If We Basely Entail Hereditary Bondage Upon Them.

Men Fight For Freedom; Then They Begin To Accumulate Laws To Take It Away From Themselves.

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident, That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Inalienable Rights, Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness, That To Secure These Rights Governments Are Instituted Among Men. We...solemnly Publish And Declare, That These Colonies Are And Of A Right Ought To Be Free And Independent States...and For The Support Of This Declaration, With A Firm Reliance On The Protection Of Divine Providence, We Mutually Pledge Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honour.

Pursuit Of Happiness

We Abhor The Follies Of War, And Are Not Untried In Its Distresses And Calamities. Unmeddling With The Affairs Of Other Nations, We Had Hoped That Our Distance And Our Dispositions Would Have Left Us Free, In The Example And Indulgence Of Peace With All The World.

Man Is Fed With Fables Through Life, And Leaves It In The Belief He Knows Something Of What Has Been Passing, When In Truth He Knows Nothing But What Has Passed Under His Own Eyes.

I Am Ever Unwilling That [peace] Should Be Disturbed As Long As The Rights And Interests Of The Nations Can Be Preserved. But Whensoever Hostile Aggressions On These Require A Resort To War, We Must Meet Our Duty And Convince The World That We Are Just Friends And Brave Enemies.

Wine Brightens The Life And Thinking Of Anyone

The Natural Progress Of Things Is For Liberty To Yield And Government To Gain Ground.

The Second Office In The Government Is Honorable And Easy; The First Is But A Splendid Misery.

I Deem No Government Safe Which Is Under The Vassalage Of Any Self-constituted Authorities, Or Any Other Authority Than That Of The Nation, Or Its Regular Functionaries.

Christianity Neither Is, Nor Ever Was A Part Of The Common Law.

I Do Not Pretend That Language Is Science. It Isan Instrument For The Attainment Of Science.

Convinced That The Republican Is The Only Form Of Government Which Is Not Eternally At Open Or Secret War With The Rights Of Mankind, My Prayers & Efforts Shall Be Cordially Distributed To The Support Of That We Have So Happily Established. It Is Indeed An Animating Thought That, While We Are Securing The Rights Of Ourselves & Our Posterity, We Are Pointing Out The Way To Struggling Nations Who Wish, Like Us, To Emerge From Their Tyrannies Also. Heaven Help Their Struggles, And Lead Them, As It Has Done Us, Triumphantly Thro' Them.

The Past Stays Put, I Just Keep Moving Farther Away From It.

There Is A Natural Aristocracy Among Men. The Grounds Of This Are Virtue And Talents.

I Pledge Undying Hostility To Any Government Restrictions On The Free Minds Of The People.

The Idea Of Creating A National Bank I Do Not Concur In, Because It Seems Now Decided That Congress Has Not That Power (although I Sincerely Wish They Had It Exclusively), And Because I Think There Is Already A Vast Redundancy Rather Than A Scarcity Of Paper Medium.

No Man Has Greater Confidence Than I Have In The Spirit Of The People, To A Rational Extent. Whatever They Can, They Will.

Travelling Is Good For Your Health And Necessary For Your Amusement.

It Is Important To Strengthen The State Governments; And As This Cannot Be Done By Any Change In The Federal Constitution (for The Preservation Of That Is All We Need Contend For), It Must Be Done By The States Themselves, Erecting Such Barriers At The Constitutional Line As Cannot Be Surmounted Either By Themselves Or By The General Government. The Only Barrier In Their Power Is A Wise Government. A Weak One Will Lose Ground In Every Contest.

Peace With All Nations, And The Right Which That Gives Us With Respect To All Nations, Are Our Object.

The Happiest Hours Of My Life Have Been Spent In The Flow Of Affection Among Friends.

Music Furnishes A Delightful Recreation For The Hours Of Respite From The Cares Of The Day, And Lasts Us Through Life.

Never Trust A Man Who Won't Accept That There Is More Than One Way To Spell A Word Paraphrased

It Is Reasonable That Everyone Who Asks Justice Should Do Justice

It Is More Honorable To Repair A Wrong Than To Persist In It.

If Our Country, When Pressed With Wrongs At The Point Of The Bayonet, Had Been Governed By Its Heads Instead Of Its Hearts, Where Should We Have Been Now? Hanging On A Gallows As High As Haman's.

Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God; Because, If There Be One, He Must More Approve The Homage Of Reason, Than That Of Blindfolded Fear.... Do Not Be Frightened From This Inquiry From Any Fear Of Its Consequences. If It Ends In The Belief That There Is No God, You Will Find Incitements To Virtue In The Comfort And Pleasantness You Feel In Its Exercise.

I Leave To Others The Sublime Delights Of Riding In The Storm, Better Pleased With Sound Sleep & A Warmer Berth Below It Encircled, With The Society Of Neighbors, Friends & Fellow Laborers Of The Earth Rather Than With Spies & Sycophants ... I Have No Ambition To Govern Men. It Is A Painful And Thankless Office.

A Man's Moral Sense Must Be Unusually Strong If Slavery Does Not Make Him A Thief.

The Same Political Parties Which Now Agitiate The Us Have Existed Through All Time. And In Fact The Terms Of Whig And Tory Belong To Natural As Well As To Civil History. They Denote The Temper And Constitution And Mind Of Different Individuals.

In A Government Bottomed On The Will Of All, The... Liberty Of Every Individual Citizen Becomes Interesting To All.

There Is Preparing, I Hope, Under The Auspices Of Heaven, A Way For A Total Emancipation.

If A Due Participation Of Office Is A Matter Of Right, How Are Vacancies To Be Obtained? Those By Death Are Few; By Resignation, None.

The Opinions Of Men Should Not Be The Object Of Any Government. Our Civil Rights Are No More Dependent On Our Religious Beliefs Than They Are Dependent Upon Our Thoughts About Geometry Or Physics!

There Is On The Globe One Single Spot, The Possessor Of Which Is Our Natural And Habitual Enemy. It Is New Orleans, Through Which The Produce Of Three-eighths Of Our Territory Must Pass To Market, And From Its Fertility It Will Ere Long Yield More Than Half Of Our Whole Produce And Contain More Than Half Our Inhabitants.

It Is Time Enough, For The Rightful Purposes Of Civil Government, For Its Officers To Interfere [in The Propagation Of Religious Teachings] When Principles Break Out Into Overt Acts Against Peace And Good Order.

The Christian God Is A Being Of Terrific Character - Cruel, Vindictive, Capricious And Unjust.

With Earnest Prayers To All My Friends To Cherish Mutual Good Will, To Promote Harmony And Conciliation, And Above All Things To Let The Love Of Our Country Soar Above All Minor Passions, I Tender You The Assurance Of My Affectionate Esteem And Respect.

The People, Especially When Moderately Instructed, Are The Only Safe, Because The Only Honest, Depositaries Of The Public Rights, And Should Therefore Be Introduced Into The Administration Of Them In Every Function To Which They Are Sufficient; They Will Err Sometimes And Accidentally, But Never Designedly, And With A Systematic And Persevering Purpose Of Overthrowing The Free Principles Of The Government.

In Truth, Politeness Is Artificial Good Humor, It Covers The Natural Want Of It, And Ends By Rendering Habitual A Substitute Nearly Equivalent To The Real Virtue.

The Only Foundation For Useful Education In A Republic Is To Be Laid In Religion.

The Issue Today Is The Same As It Has Been Throughout All History, Whether Man Shall Be Allowed To Govern Himself Or Be Ruled By A Small Elite.

Dependence Leads To Subservience.

His [calvin's] Religion Was Demonism. If Ever Man Worshiped A False God, He Did. The Being Described In His Five Points Is ... A Demon Of Malignant Spirit. It Would Be More Pardonable To Believe In No God At All, Than To Blaspheme Him By The Atrocious Attributes Of Calvin

The Principles On Which We Engaged, Of Which The Charter Of Our Independence Is The Record, Were Sanctioned By The Laws Of Our Being, And We But Obeyed Them In Pursuing Undeviatingly The Course They Called For. It Issued Finally In That Inestimable State Of Freedom Which Alone Can Ensure To Man The Enjoyment Of His Equal Rights.

Peace Is That Brief Glorious Moment In History When Everybody Stands Around Reloading.

The Liberty Of Speaking And Writing Guards Our Other Liberties.

I Really Look With Commiseration Over The Great Body Of My Fellow Citizens Who, Reading Newspapers, Live And Die In The Belief That They Have Known Something Of What Has Been Passing In Their Times.

Public Employment Contributes Neither To Advantage Nor Happiness. It Is But Honorable Exile From One's Family And Affairs.

My Construction Of The Constitution Is Very Different From That You Quote. It Is That Each Department Is Truly Independent Of The Others, And Has An Equal Right To Decide For Itself What Is The Meaning Of The Constitution In The Cases Submitted To Its Action; And Especially, Where It Is To Act Ultimately And Without Appeal.

The Natural Cause Of The Human Mind Is Certainly From Credulity To Skepticism.

The True Theory Of Our Constitution Is Surely The Wisest And Best, That The States Are Independent As To Everything Within Themselves And United As To Everything Respecting Foreign Nations. Let The General Government Be Reduced To Foreign Concerns Only.

When We Consider How Much Climate Contributes To The Happiness Of Our Condition, By The Fine Sensation It Excites, And The Productions It Is The Parent Of, We Have Reason To Value Highly The Accident Of Birth In Such A One As That Of Virginia.

In Short I Must Confide In You To Take Such Care Of The Men Under You As An Economical Householder Would Of His Own Family, Doingevery Thing Within Himself As Far As He Can, And Calling For As Few Supplies As Possible. The Less You Depend For Supplies From This Quarter, The Less You Will Be Disappointed.

Lay Down True Principles And Adhere To Them Inflexibly. Do Not Be Frightened Into Their Surrender By The Alarms Of The Timid, Or The Croakings Of Wealth Against The Ascendency Of The People.

Whenever Any Form Of Government Becomes Destructive Of These Ends [life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness] It Is The Right Of The People To Alter Or Abolish It, And To Institute New Government.

Pursuit Of Happiness

The Banks Themselves Were Doing Business On Capitals Three-fourths Of Which Were Fictitious. This Fictitious Capital... Is Now To Be Lost, And To Fall On Somebody; It Must Take On Those Who Have Property To Meet It, And Probably On The Less Cautious Part, Who, Not Aware Of The Impending Catastrophe, Have Suffered Themselves To Contract, Or To Be In Debt, And Must Now Sacrifice Their Property Of A Value Many Times The Amount Of The Debt. We Have Been Truly Sowing The Wind, And Are Now Reaping The Whirlwind.

The Contest Is Not Between Us And Them, But Between Good And Evil, And If Those Who Would Fight Evil Adopt The Ways Of Evil, Evil Wins.

The Earth Belongs To The Living. No Man Can, By Natural Right, Oblige The Lands He Occupied Or The Persons Who Succeed Him In That Occupation, To The Payment Of Debts Contracted By Him. For If He Could, He Might, During His Own Life, Eat Up The Use Of The Lands For Several Generations To Come, And Then The Lands Would Belong To The Dead, And Not To The Living. No Generation Can Contract Debts Greater Than May Be Paid During The Course Of Its Own Existence.

Who Then Can So Softly Bind Up The Wound Of Another As He Who Has Felt The Same Wound Himself.

The Greatest Calamity Which Could Befall Us Would Be Submission To A Government Of Unlimited Powers.

I Believe That Every Human Mind Feels Pleasure In Doing Good To Another.

It Is Error Alone Which Needs The Support Of Government. Truth Can Stand By Itself.

I Am Increasingly Persuaded That The Earth Belongs Exclusively To The Living And That One Generation Has No More Right To Bind Another To It's Laws And Judgments Than One Independent Nation Has The Right To Command Another.

Botany I Rank With The Most Valuable Sciences.

You And I Have Formerly Seen Warm Debates And High Political Passions. But Gentlemen Of Different Politics Would Then Speak To Each Other And Separate The Business Of The Senate From That Of Society. It Is Not So Now. Men Who Have Been Intimate All Their Lives, Cross The Streets To Avoid Meeting, And Turn Their Heads Another Way, Lest They Should Be Obliged To Touch Their Hats. This May Do For Young Men With Whom Passion Is Enjoyment. But It Is Afflicting To Peaceable Minds. Tranquility Is The Old Man's Milk.

War Is Not The Best Engine For Us To Resort To; Nature Has Given Us One In Our Commerce, Which If Properly Managed, Will Be A Better Instrument For Obliging The Interested Nations Of Europe To Treat Us With Justice.

If Your Letters Are As Long As The Bible, They Will Appear Short To Me. Only Let Them Be Brim Full Of Affection.

Knowledge Is Power...knowled Ge Is Safety...knowle Dge Is Happiness.

Knowledge Is Power

A Great Deal Of Love Given To A Few Is Better Than A Little To Many.

While The Farmer Holds The Title To The Land, Actually, It Belongs To All The People Because Civilization Itself Rests Upon The Soil.

If We Are To Guard Against Ignorance And Remain Free, It Is The Responsibility Of Every American To Be Informed.

The Only Thing A Man Can Take Beyond This Lifetime Is His Ethics.

I Candidly Confess That I Have Ever Looked On Cuba As The Most Interesting Addition Which Could Ever Be Made To Our System Of States. The Control Which, With Florida, This Island Would Give Us Over The Gulf Of Mexico, And The Countries And Isthmus Bordering On It, As Well As All Those Whose Waters Flow Into It, Would Fill Up The Measure Of Our Political Well-being.

An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens.

An Occasional Insurrection Will Not Weigh Against The Inconveniences Of A Government Of Force, Such As Are Monarchies And Aristocracies.

We Could In The United States Make As Great A Variety Of Wines As Are Made In Europe, Not Exactly Of The Same Kinds, But Doubtless As Good.

Let It Be Signified To Me Through Any Channelthat The Possession Of The Floridas Would Be Desirable To The United States, Andin Sixty Days It Will Be Accomplished. ...penned In The Language Of Truth, And Divested Of Those Expressions Of Servility Which Would Persuade His Majesty That We Are Asking Favors And Not Rights.

The Present Generation Has The Same Right Of Self-government Which The Past One Has Exercised For Itself.

Man Is Not Made For The State But The State For Man And It Derives Its Just Powers Only From The Consent Of The Governed.

Merchants Have No Country.

The Authors Of The Gospels Were Unlettered And Ignorant Men And The Teachings Of Jesus Have Come To Us Mutilated, Misstated And Unintelligible.

I Abhor War And View It As The Greatest Scourge Of Mankind.

The Lamp Of War Is Kindled Here, Not To Be Extinguished But By Torrents Of Blood.

It Has Been A Source Of Great Pain To Me To Have Met With So Many Among [my] Opponents Who Had Not The Liberality To Distinguish Between Political And Social Opposition; Who Transferred At Once To The Person, The Hatred They Bore To His Political Opinions.

Political Opinions

Agreeable Society Is The First Essential In Constituting The Happiness And Of Course The Value Of Our Existence.

Difficulties Indeed Sometimes Arise; But Common Sense And Honest Intentions Will Generally Steer Through Them.

When We Get Piled Upon One Another In Large Cities, As In Europe, We Shall Become As Corrupt As Europe.

The Boisterous Sea Of Liberty Is Never Without A Wave.

Religious Leaders Will Always Avail Themselves Of Public Ignorance For Their Own Purpose.

In Defense Of Our Persons And Properties Under Actual Violation, We Took Up Arms. When That Violence Shall Be Removed, When Hostilities Shall Cease On The Part Of The Aggressors, Hostilities Shall Cease On Our Part Also.

If Once The People Become Inattentive To The Public Affairs, You And I, And Congress And Assemblies, Judges And Governors, Shall All Become Wolves. It Seems To Be The Law Of Our General Nature, In Spite Of Individual Exceptions.

He, Who Steadily Observes Those Moral Precepts In Which All Religions Concur, Will Never Be Questioned At The Gates Of Heaven As To The Dogmas In Which They All Differ.

The Cement Of This Union Is The Heart-blood Of Every American.

Nothing Is Unchangeable But The Inherent And Unalienable Rights Of Man.

Congress Has Not Unlimited Powers To Provide For The General Welfare, But Only Those Specifically Enumerated.

What Country Can Preserve Its Liberties If Its Rulers Are Not Warned From Time To Time That Their People Preserve The Spirit Of Resistance? Let Them Take Arms.

I Think We Have More Machinery Of Government Than Is Necessary, Too Many Parasites Living On The Labor Of The Industrious.

Communities Should Be Planned With An Eye To The Effect On The Human Spirit Of Being Continually Surrounded By A Maximum Of Beauty.

God Has Formed Us Moral Agents... That We May Promote The Happiness Of Those With Whom He Has Placed Us In Society, By Acting Honestly Towards All, Benevolently To Those Who Fall Within Our Way, Respecting Sacredly Their Rights, Bodily And Mental, And Cherishing Especially Their Freedom Of Conscience, As We Value Our Own.

One Generation Cannot Bind Another.

There Is Nothing More Unequal Than The Equal Treatment Of Unequal People.

Equal Treatment

Taste Cannot Be Controlled By Law. We Must Resist At All Costs Any Attempt To Regulate Our Individual Freedoms And To Legislate Our Personal Moralities.

If The Present Congress Errs In Too Much Talking, How Can It Be Otherwise In A Body To Which The People Send One Hundred And Fifty Lawyers, Whose Trade It Is To Question Everything, Yield Nothing, And Talk By The Hour?

Never Use One Word When Two Will Do.

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Luciano De Crescenzo

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