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Believing With You That Religion Is A Matter Which Lies Solely Between Man And His God, That He Owes Account To None Other For His Faith Or His Worship, That The Legislative Powers Of Government Reach Actions Only, And Not Opinions, I Contemplate With Sovereign Reverence That Act Of The Whole American People Which Declared That Their Legislature Should 'make No Law Respecting An Establishment Of Religion, Or Prohibiting The Free Exercise Thereof,' Thus Building A Wall Of Separation Between Church And State.

-Thomas Jefferson

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Believing With You That

Thomas Jefferson

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Believing With You That Religion Is A Matter Which Lies Solely Between Man And His God, That He Owes Account To None Other For His Faith Or His Worship, That The Legislative Powers Of Government Reach Actions Only, And Not Opinions, I Contemplate With Sovereign Reverence That Act Of The Whole American People Which Declared That Their Legislature Should 'make No Law Respecting An Establishment Of Religion, Or Prohibiting The Free Exercise Thereof,' Thus Building A Wall Of Separation Between Church And State.

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Nothing Was Or Is Farther From My Intentions, Than To Enlist Myself As The Champion Of A Fixed Opinion, Where I Have Only Expressed Doubt.

Nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly.

The Man Who Loves His Country On Its Own Account, And Not Merely For Its Trappings Of Interest Or Power, Can Never Be Divorced For It, Can Never Refuse To Come Forward When He Finds That She Is Engaged In Dangers Which He Has The Means Of Warding Off.

Rebellion To Tyranny Is Obedience To God.

The Expedition Of Messrs. Lewis & Clarke For Exploring The River Missouri, & The Best Communication From That To The Pacific Ocean, Has Had All The Success Which Could Have Been Expected.

Force Cannot Give Right.

No Religious Reading, Instruction Or Exercise, Shall Be Prescribed Or Practiced [in The Elementary Schools] Inconsistent With The Tenets Of Any Religious Sect Or Denomination.

Health Is Value Greater Than Studying.

It Is An Encouraging Observation That No Good Measure Was Ever Proposed Which, If Duly Pursued, Failed To Prevail In The End.

The Issuing Power [of Money] Should Be Taken From The Banks And Restored To The People, To Whom It Properly Belongs.

Democracies Have

For Here We Are Not Afraid To Follow Truth Wherever It May Lead.

[t]he States Can Best Govern Our Home Concerns And The General Government Our Foreign Ones. I Wish, Therefore . . . Never To See All Offices Transferred To Washington, Where, Further Withdrawn From The Eyes Of The People, They May More Secretly Be Bought And Sold At Market.

A Free People [claim] Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.

Lake George Is Without Comparison, The Most Beautiful Water I Ever Saw; Formed By A Contour Of Mountains Into A Basin... Finely Interspersed With Islands, Its Water Limpid As Crystal, And The Mountain Sides Covered With Rich Groves... Down To The Water-edge: Here And There Precipices Of Rock To Checker The Scene And Save It From Monotony.

The Following [addition To The Bill Of Rights] Would Have Pleased Me: The People Shall Not Be Deprived Or Abridged Of Their Right To Speak, To Write, Or Otherwise To Publish Anything But False Facts Affecting Injuriously The Life, Liberty Or Reputation Of Others, Or Affecting The Peace Of The [united States] With Foreign Nations.

Letters Are Not The First, But The Last Step In The Progression From Barbarism To Civilisation.

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

Here Was Buried Thomas Jefferson, Author Of The Declaration Of American Independence, Of The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom, And Father Of The University Of Virginia.

How Did Jefferson Feel About The People Of His Day Who Were The Equivalent Of Our Modern Day Penecostals? You Know, Those Revelation Reveling Tongue Speaking Idiots.

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

The Bible Is The Cornerstone Of Liberty ... Students Perusal Of The Sacred Volume Will Make Us Better Citizens.

I Considered The British As Our Natural Enemies, And As The Only Nation On Earth Who Wished Us Ill From The Bottom Of Their Souls. And I Am Satisfied That Were Our Continent To Be Swallowed Up By The Ocean, Great Britain Would Be In A Bonfire From One End To The Other.

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

Nothing Is More Certainly Written In The Book Of Fate Than That These People Are To Be Free.

The Ocean ... Like The Air, Is The Common Birth-right Of Mankind.

Whenever A Man Has Cast A Longing Eye On Offices, A Rottenness Begins In His Conduct.

I Never Saw An Instance Of One Or Two Disputants Convincing The Other By Argument.

Millions Of Innocent Men, Women And Children, Since The Introduction Of Christianity, Have Been Burnt, Tortured, Fined And Imprisoned; Yet We Have Not Advanced One Inch Towards Uniformity. What Has Been The Effect Of Coercion? To Make One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites. To Support Roguery And Error All Over The Earth.

When We Come To The Moral Principles On Which The Government Is To Be Administered, We Come To What Is Proper For All Conditions Of Society. Liberty, Truth, Probity, Honor, Are Declared To Be The Four Cardinal Principles Of Society. I Believe That Morality, Compassion, Generosity, Are Innate Elements Of The Human Constitution; That There Exists A Right Independent Of Force.

Very Many And Very Meritorious Were The Worthy Patriots Who Assisted In Bringing Back Our Government To Its Republican Tack. To Preserve It In That, Will Require Unremitting Vigilance.

I Value Peace, And I Should Unwillingly See Any Event Take Place Which Would Render War A Necessary Resource.

It Is Rare That The Public Sentiment Decides Immorally Or Unwisely, And The Individual Who Differs From It Ought To Distrust And Examine Well His Own Opinion.

Malice Will Always Find Bad Motives For Good Actions. - Shall We Therefore Never Do Good?

I Deplore With You The Putrid State Into Which Our Newspapers Have Passed, And The Malignity, The Vulgarity, And Mendacious Spirit Of Those Who Write For Them. ... This Has In A Great Degree Been Produced By The Violence And Malignity Of Party Spirit.

Free Men Do Not Ask Permission To Bear Arms

All... Natural Rights May Be Abridged Or Modified In [their] Exercise By Law.

The Appointment Of A Woman To Office Is An Innovation For Which The Public Is Not Prepared, Nor I.

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

No Man Has A Natural Right To Commit Aggression On The Equal Rights Of Another; And This Is All From Which The Laws Ought To Restrain Him.

Our Legislators Are Not Sufficiently Apprized Of The Rightful Limits Of Their Power; That Their True Office Is To Declare And Enforce Only Our Natural Rights And Duties, And To Take None Of Them From Us.

Gouverneur Morris Had Often Told Me That General Washington Believed No More Of That System (christianity) Than Did He Himself.

Speaking One Day To Monsieur De Buffon, On The Present Ardor Of Chemical Inquiry, He Affected To Consider Chemistry But As Cookery, And To Place The Toils Of The Laboratory On The Footing With Those Of The Kitchen. I Think It, On The Contrary, Among The Most Useful Of Sciences, And Big With Future Discoveries For The Utility And Safety Of The Human Race.

A Single Good Government Becomes... A Blessing To The Whole Earth, Its Welcome To The Oppressed Restraining Within Certain Limits The Measure Of Their Oppressions. But Should Even This Be Counteracted By Violence On The Right Of Expatriation, The Other Branch Of Our Example Then Presents Itself For Imitation: To Rise On Their Rulers And Do As We Have Done.

Wine From Long Habit Has Become An Indispensable For My Health

One Imputation In Particular Has Been Repeated Till It Seems As If Some At Least Believed It: That I Am An Enemy To Commerce. They Admit Me A Friend Of Agriculture, And Suppose Me An Enemy To The Only Means Of Disposing Of Its Produce.

But With Respect To Future Debt; Would It Not Be Wise And Just For That Nation To Declare In The Constitution They Are Forming That Neither The Legislature, Nor The Nation Itself Can Validly Contract More Debt, Than They May Pay Within Their Own Age, Or Within The Term Of 19 Years.

Enlighten The People Generally, And Tyranny And Oppressions Of Body And Mind Will Vanish Like Evil Spirits At The Dawn Of Day.

In The Fevered State Of Our Country, No Good Can Ever Result From Any Attempt To Set One Of These Fiery Zealots To Rights, Either In Fact Or Principle. They Are Determined As To The Facts They Will Believe, And The Opinions On Which They Will Act. Get By Them, Therefore, As You Would By An Angry Bull; It Is Not For A Man Of Sense To Dispute The Road With Such An Animal.

The Merchants Will Manage [commerce] The Better, The More They Are Left Free To Manage For Themselves.

No Person Shall Be Capable Of Being A Delegate For More Than Three Years In Any Term Of Six.

Religion, Morality, And Knowledge Are Necessary For Good Government... Therefore Schools And The Means Of Educating The People Should Always Be Encouraged.

It Is In The Love Of One's Family Only That Heartfelt Happiness Is Known.

[the Purpose Of A Written Constitution Is] To Bind Up The Several Branches Of Government By Certain Laws, Which, When They Transgress, Their Acts Shall Become Nullities; To Render Unnecessary An Appeal To The People, Or In Other Words A Rebellion, On Every Infraction Of Their Rights, On The Peril That Their Acquiescence Shall Be Construed Into An Intention To Surrender Those Rights.

When Tyranny Becomes Law, Rebellion Becomes Duty.

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

It Has Been Thought That The People Are Not Competent Electors Of Judges Learned In The Law. But I Do Not Know This To Be True, And, If Doubtful, We Should Follow Principle.

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

If You Have Any Duty Which Must Be Done, And It Seems Disagreeable, Do It Promptly And Have It Over.

No Society Is So Precious As That Of One’s Own Family.

Trial By Jury Is Part Of That Bright Constellation Which Has Gone Before Us And Guided Our Steps Through An Age Of Revolution And Reformation.

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.

Tranquility Is The Old Man's Milk.

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.

Health, Learning And Virtue Will Ensure Your Happiness; They Will Give You A Quiet Conscience, Private Esteem And Public Honour.

I Can Scarcely Contemplate A More Incalculable Evil Than The Breaking Of The Union Into Two Or More Parts.

The God Who Gave Us Life Gave Us Liberty. Can The Liberties Of A Nation Be Secure When We Have Removed A Conviction That These Liberties Are The Gift Of God?

I Look To The Diffusion Of Light And Education As The Resource Most To Be Relied On For Ameliorating The Condition, Promoting The Virtue And Advancing The Happiness Of Man.

I Hope Our Wisdom Will Grow With Our Power, And Teach Us, That The Less We Use Our Power The Greater It Will Be.

One Never Really Knows How Much One Has Been Touched By A Place Until One Has Left It.

I Was Much An Enemy To Monarchies Before I Came To Europe. I Am Ten Thousand Times More So, Since I Have Seen What They Are. There Is Scarcely An Evil Known In These Countries, Which May Not Be Traced To Their King, As Its Source, Nor A Good, Which Is Not Derived From The Small Fibres Of Republicanism Existing Among Them.

If Thinking Men Would Have The Courage To Think For Themselves, And To Speak What They Think, It Would Be Found They Do Not Differ In Religious Opinions As Much As Is Supposed.

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

I Enclose To You A Copy Of The Declaration Of Independence As Agreed To By The House, And Also, As Originally Framed. You Will Judge Whether It Is The Better Or Worse For The Critics.

And Say, Finally, Whether Peace Is Best Preserved By Giving Energy To The Government Or Information To The People. This Last Is The Most Legitimate Engine Of Government. Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of People. Enable Them To See That It Is Their Interest To Preserve Peace And Order, And They Will Preserve Them. And It Requires No Very High Degree Of Education To Convince Them Of This. They Are The Only Sure Reliance For The Preservation Of Our Liberty.

Laws ... Proportionate And Mild Should Never Be Dispensed With. Let Mercy Be The Character Of The Law-giver, But Let The Judge Be A Mere Machine.

He Has Erected A Multitude Of New Offices, And Sent Hither Swarms Of Officers To Harass Our People And Eat Out Their Substance.

I Discharge Every Person Under Punishment Or Prosecution Under The Sedition Law, Because I Considered, And Now Consider, That Law To Be A Nullity As Absolute And Palpable As If Congress Had Ordered Us To Fall Down And Worship A Golden Image.

The Future Inhabitants Of [both] The Atlantic And Mississippi States Will Be Our Sons. We Think We See Their Happiness In Their Union, And We Wish It. Events May Prove Otherwise; And If They See Their Interest In Separating Why Should We Take Sides? God Bless Them Both, And Keep Them In Union If It Be For Their Good, But Separate Them If It Be Better.

The Bulk Of Mankind Are Schoolboys Through Life.

I Am Conscious That An Equal Division Of Property Is Impracticable, But The Consequences Of This Enormous Inequality Producing So Much Misery To The Bulk Of Mankind, Legislators Cannot Invent Too Many Devices For Subdividing Property.

But Every Difference Of Opinion Is Not A Difference Of Principle.

I Have Always Said That A Studious Perusal Of The Sacred Volume Will Make Better Citizens, Better Fathers, And Better Husbands.

I Do Not Believe War The Most Certain Means Of Enforcing Principles. Those Peaceable Coercions Which Are In The Power Of Every Nation, If Undertaken In Concert And In Time Of Peace, Are More Likely To Produce The Desired Effect.

Any Woodsman Can Tell You That In A Broken And Sundered Nest, One Can Hardly Find More Than A Precious Few Whole Eggs. So It Is With The Family.

From Breakfast, Or Noon At The Latest, To Dinner, I Am Mostly On Horseback, Attending To My Farm Or Other Concerns, Which I Find Healthful To My Body, Mind, And Affairs.

I Do Not Like [in The New Federal Constitution] The Omission Of A Bill Of Rights Providing Clearly And Without The Aid Of Sophisms For... Protection Against Standing Armies

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.

A Strong Body Makes The Mind Strong.

It Is A Misnomer To Call A Government Republican In Which A Branch Of The Supreme Power Is Independent Of The Nation.

It Will Be Said That Great Societies Cannot Exist Without Government.

Though Written Constitutions May Be Violated In Moments Of Passion Or Delusion, Yet They Furnish A Text To Which Those Who Are Watchful May Again Rally And Recall The People; They Fix Too For The People The Principles Of Their Political Creed.

Born In Other Countries, Yet Believing You Could Be Happy In This, Our Laws Acknowledge, As They Should Do, Your Right To Join Us In Society, Conforming, As I Doubt Not You Will Do, To Our Established Rules. That These Rules Shall Be As Equal As Prudential Considerations Will Admit, Will Certainly Be The Aim Of Our Legislatures, General And Particular.

Honesty, Disinterestedness And Good Nature Are Indispensable To Procure The Esteem And Confidence Of Those With Whom We Live, And On Whose Esteem Our Happiness Depends.

I Consider The Government Of The U.s. As Interdicted By The Constitution From Intermeddling With Religious Institutions, Their Doctrines, Discipline, Or Exercises.

The Constitution On Which Our Union Rests, Shall Be Administered By Me [as President] According To The Safe And Honest Meaning Contemplated By The Plain Understanding Of The People Of The United States At The Time Of Its Adoption - A Meaning To Be Found In The Explanations Of Those Who Advocated, Not Those Who Opposed It, And Who Opposed It Merely Lest The Construction Should Be Applied Which They Denounced As Possible.

The Sun - My Almighty Physician.

Those Characters Wherein Fear Predominates Over Hope May Apprehend Too Much From...instances Of Irregularity. They May Conclude Too Hastily That Nature Has Formed Man Insusceptible Of Any Other Government Than That Of Force, A Conclusion Not Founded In Truth Nor Experience.

Earnestly Recommended To All Officers And Soldiers, Diligently To Attend Divine Services.

Every Male Citizen Of The Commonwealth, Liable To Taxes Or To Militia Duty In Any County, Shall Have A Right To Vote For Representatives For That County To The Legislature.

Not Less Than Two Hours A Day Should Be Devoded To Exercise, And Weather Should Be Little Regarded. A Person Not Sick Will Not Be Injured By Getting Wet. It Is But Taking A Cold Bath, Which Never Gives A Cold To Any One. Brute Animals Are The Most Healthy, And They Are Exposed To All Weather, And Of Men, Those Are Healthiest Who Are The Most Exposed.

We Are The Friends Of Liberty Everywhere, But The Guarrantors Of Only Our Own.

It Is Highly Interesting To Our Country, And It Is The Duty Of Its Functionaries, To Provide That Every Citizen In It Should Receive An Education Proportioned To The Condition And Pursuits Of His Life.

The Introduction Of So Powerful An Agent As Steam [to A Carriage On Wheels] Will Make A Great Change In The Situation Of Man.

I Do Most Anxiously Wish To See The Highest Degrees Of Education Given To The Higher Degrees Of Genius And To All Degrees Of It, So Much As May Enable Them To Read And Understand What Is Going On In The World And To Keep Their Part Of It Going On Right; For Nothing Can Keep It Right But Their Own Vigilant And Distrustful Superintendence.

The Policy Of The American Government Is To Leave Their Citizens Free, Neither Restraining Nor Aiding Them In Their Pursuits.

The Moral Sense Is The First Excellence Of Well-organized Man.

No Experiment Can Be More Interesting Than That We Are Now Trying, And Which We Trust Will End In Establishing The Fact, That Man May Be Governed By Reason And Truth. Our First Object Should Therefore Be, To Leave Open To Him All The Avenues To Truth. The Most Effectual Hitherto Found, Is The Freedom Of The Press. It Is, Therefore, The First Shut Up By Those Who Fear The Investigation Of Their Actions.

Freedom Of Speech

Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse In Any Country. If It Were, The Laws Would Lose Their Effect, Because It Can Always Be Pretended.

The Truth Is, That The Greatest Enemies To The Doctrines Of Jesus Are Those, Calling Themselves The Expositors Of Them, Who Have Perverted Them For The Structure Of A System Of Fancy Absolutely Incomprehensible, And Without Any Foundation In His Genuine Words.

Laws And Institutions Must Go Hand In Hand With The Progress Of The Human Mind. . . . We Might As Well Require A Man To Wear The Coat Which Fitted Him When A Boy As Civilized Society To Remain Forever Under The Regimen Of Their Barbarous Ancestors.

The Mobs Of The Great Cities Add Just So Much To The Support Of Pure Government As Sores Do To The Strength Of The Human Body. It Is The Manners And Spirit Of A People Which Preserve A Republic In Vigor. A Degeneracy In These Is A Canker Which Soon Eats To The Heart Of Its Laws And Constitution.

A Pirate Spreading Misery And Ruin Over The Face Of The Ocean

I Have No Ambition To Govern Men; It Is A Painful And Thankless Office.

The Giver Of Life Gave It For Happiness And Not For Wretchedness.

Delay Is Preferable To Error.

How Much Pain They Have Cost Us, The Evils Which Have Never Happened.

‎we Must Make Our Choice Between Economy And Liberty Or Confusion And Servitude...if We Run Into Such Debts, We Must Be Taxed In Our Meat And Drink, In Our Necessities And Comforts, In Our Labor And In Our Amusements...if We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labor Of The People, Under The Pretense Of Caring For Them, They Will Be Happy.

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.

A Man Has A Right To Use A Saw, An Axe, A Plane, Separately; May He Not Combine Their Uses On The Same Piece Of Wood? He Has A Right To Use His Knife To Cut His Meat, A Fork To Hold It; May A Patentee Take From Him The Right To Combine Their Use On The Same Subject? Such A Law, Instead Of Enlarging Our Conveniences, As Was Intended, Would Most Fearfully Abridge Them, And Crowd Us By Monopolies Out Of The Use Of The Things We Have.

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.

I Hope We Shall Crush In Its Birth The Aristocracy Of Our Monied Corporations Which Dare Already To Challenge Our Government To A Trial By Strength, And Bid Defiance To The Laws Of Our Country.

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 Affairs. Let The General Government Be Reduced To Foreign Concerns Only, And Let Our Affairs Be Disentangled From Those Of All Other Nations, Except As To Commerce, Which The Merchants Will Manage The Better, The More They Are Left Free To Manage For Themselves, And Our General Government May Be Reduced To A Very Simple Organization, And A Very Inexpensive One; A Few Plain Duties To Be Performed By A Few Servants.

You Have Never By A Word Or A Deed Given Me One Moment's Uneasiness; On The Contrary I Have Felt Perpetual Gratitude To Heaven Forhaving Given Me, In You, A Source Of So Much Pure And Unmixed Happiness.

What Are The Objects Of An Useful American Education? Classical Knowlege, Modern Languages & Chiefly French, Spanish, & Italian; Mathematics; Natural Philosophy; Natural History; Civil History; Ethics.

Don't Spend Your Money Till You Have It.

Success In Life

Gaming Corrupts Our Disposition And Teaches Us A Habit Of Hostility Against All Mankind.

The Constitution Is A Mere Thing Of Wax In The Hands Of The Judiciary, Which They May Twist And Shape Into Any Form They Please.

All Power Is Inherent In The People.

[emigrants] Will Bring With Them The Principles Of The Governments They Leave, Imbibed In Their Early Youth; Or, If Able To Throw Off, It Will Be In Exchange For An Unbounded Licentiousness, Passing, As Is Usual, From One Extreme To Another. It Would Be A Miracle Were They To Stop Precisely At The Point Of Temperate Liberty.

Perfect Happiness, I Believe, Was Never Intended By The Deity To Be The Lot Of One Of His Creatures In This World; But That He Has Very Much Put In Our Power The Nearness Of Our Approaches To It Is What I Have Steadfastly Believed.

When You Are Doubting Whether A Thing Is Worth The Trouble Of Going To See, Recollect That You Will Never Again Be So Near It. You May Repent Not Having Seen It, But You Can Never Repent Having Seen It.

The Dominion Which The Banking Institutions Have Obtained Over The Minds Of Our Citizens...must Be Broken, Or It Will Break Us.

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.

We Lay It Down As A Fundamental, That Laws, To Be Just, Must Give A Reciprocation Of Right; That, Without This, They Are Mere Arbitrary Rules Of Conduct, Founded In Force, And Not In Conscience.

We See The Wisdom Of Solon's Remark, That No More Good Must Be Attempted Than The Nation Can Bear.

The Cutting Of Heads Is Become So Much A La Mode, That One Is Apt To Feel Of A Morning Whether Their Own Is On Their Shoulders.

Ignorance Is A Poor Tool In A Battle Of Wits.

Civil Officials Have No Business Meddling In Private Religious Affairs.

You Have Lived Longer Than I Have And Perhaps May Have Formed A Different Judgment On Better Grounds; But My Observations Do Not Enable Me To Say I Think Integrity The Characteristic Of Wealth. In General I Believe The Decisions Of The People, In A Body, Will Be More Honest And More Disinterested Than Those Of Wealthy Men.

I Had Rather Be Shut Up In A Very Modest Cottage, With My Books, My Family, And A Few Old Friends, Dining On Simple Bacon, And Letting The World Roll On As It Liked, Than To Occupy The Most Splendid Post Which Any Human Power Can Give.

What Has Destroyed Liberty And The Rights Of Man In Every Government Which Has Ever Existed Under The Sun? The Generalizing And Concentrating All Cares And Power Into One Body, No Matter Whether Of The Autocrats Of Russia Or France, Or Of The Aristocrats Of A Venetian Senate.

There Is A Fulness Of Time When Men Should Go, And Not Occupy Too Long The Ground To Which Others Have A Right To Advance.

I Could Say Much About Politics, Our Only Entertainment Here, But You Would Not Care A Fig About That.

The Natural Aristocracy I Consider As The Most Precious Gift Of Nature For The Instruction, The Trusts, And Government Of Society. And Indeed It Would Have Been Inconsistent In Creation To Have Formed Man For The Social State, And Not To Have Provided Virtue And Wisdom Enough To Manage The Concerns Of The Society. May We Not Even Say That That Form Of Government Is The Best Which Provides The Most - For A Pure Selection Of These Natural Aristoi Into The Offices Of Government?

The Protection Of Our Citizens, The Spirit And Honor Of Our Country, Require That Force Should Be Interposed To A Certain Degree.

I Sincerely Join You In Abjuring All Political Connection With Every Foreign Power; And Tho I Cordially Wish Well To The Progress Of Liberty In All Nations, And Would Forever Give It The Weight Of Our Countenance, Yet They Are Not To Be Touched Without Contamination From Their Other Bad Principles. Commerce With All Nations, Alliance With None, Should Be Our Motto.

The Juries Are Our Judges Of All Fact, And Of Law When They Choose It.

The Spirit Of This Country Is Totally Adverse To A Large Military Force.

How Sublime To Look Down On The Workhouse Of Nature, To See Her Clouds, Hail, Snow, Rain, Thunder, All Fabricated At Our Feet!

I Have Lived Temperately, Eating Little Animal Food, And That Not As An Aliment, So Much As A Condiment For The Vegetables, Which Constitute My Principal Diet.

Vegetarian Diet

Whenever The People Are Well-informed, They Can Be Trusted With Their Own Government.

My God! How Little Do My Countrymen Know What Precious Blessings They Are In Possession Of, And Which No Other People On Earth Enjoy!

It Is Well Known, That On The Ohio, And In Many Parts Of America Further North, Tusks, Grinders, And Skeletons Of Unparalleled Magnitude Are Found In Great Numbers, Some Lying On The Surface Of The Earth, And Some A Little Below It ... But To Whatever Animal We Ascribe These Remains, It Is Certain That Such A One Has Existed In America, And That It Has Been The Largest Of All Terrestrial Beings.

The Commotions That Have Taken Place In America, As Far As They Are Yet Known To Me, Offer Nothing Threatening. They Are A Proof That The People Have Liberty Enough, And I Could Not Wish Them Less Than They Have. If The Happiness Of The Mass Of The People Can Be Secured At The Expense Of A Little Tempest Now And Then, Or Even Of A Little Blood, It Will Be A Precious Purchase. 'malo Libertatem Periculosam Quam Quietem Servitutem.' Let Common Sense And Common Honesty Have Fair Play, And They Will Soon Set Things To Rights.

Politics Is Such A Torment That I Advise Everyone I Love Not To Mix With It.

Courts Love The People Always, As Wolves Do The Sheep.

To Take A Single Step Beyond The Text Would Be To Take Possession Of A Boundless Field Of Power.

It Is Not By The Consolidation Or Concentration Of Powers But By Their Distribution That Good Government Is Effected.

Experience Has Already Shown That The Impeachment The Constitution Has Provided Is Not Even A Scarecrow.

The Late Rebellion In Massachusetts Has Given More Alarm Than I Think It Should Have Done. Calculate That One Rebellion In Thirteen States In The Course Of Eleven Years, Is But One For Each State In A Century And A Half. No Country Should Be So Long Without One. Nor Will Any Degree Of Power In The Hands Of Government Prevent Insurrections.

The Government You Elect Is The Government You Deserve.

Against Us Are All Timid Men Who Prefer The Calm Of Despotism To The Boisterous Sea Of Liberty We Are Likely To Preserve The Liberty We Have Obtained Only By Unremitting Labors And Perils.

No Man Complains Of His Neighbor For Ill Management Of His Affairs, For An Error In Sowing His Land, Or Marrying His Daughter, For Consuming His Substance In Taverns ... In All These He Has Liberty; But If He Does Not Frequent The Church, Or Then Conform In Ceremonies, There Is An Immediate Uproar.

Knowledge Indeed Is A Desirable, A Lovely Possession.

It Is Not Only Vain, But Wicked, In A Legislator To Frame Laws In Opposition To The Laws Of Nature, And To Arm Them With The Terrors Of Death. This Is Truly Creating Crimes In Order To Punish Them.

Bodily Decay Is Gloomy In Prospect, But Of All Human Contemplations The Most Abhorrent Is Body Without Mind.

History, I Believe, Furnishes No Example Of A Priest-ridden People Maintaining A Free Civil Government. This Marks The Lowest Grade Of Ignorance Of Which Their Civil As Well As Religious Leaders Will Always Avail Themselves For Their Own Purposes.

I Leave The World And Its Affairs To The Young And Energetic, And Resign Myself To Their Care, Of Whom I Have Endeavored To Take Care When Young.

We Must Endeavor To Forget Our Former Love For Them [the British] And To Hold Them, As We Hold The Rest Of Mankind, Enemies In War, In Peace Friends.

Mankind Are More Disposed To Suffer, While Evils Are Sufferable, Than To Right Themselves By Abolishing The Forms To Which They Are Accustomed.

Unalienable Rights

...in War, They Will Kill Some Of Us; We Shall Destroy All Of Them

No Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Any Religious Worship, Place, Or Ministry Whatsoever.

Convinced That The People Are The Only Safe Depositories Of Their Own Liberty, And That They Are Not Safe Unless Enlightened To A Certain Degree, I Have Looked On Our Present State Of Liberty As A Short-lived Possession Unless The Mass Of The People Could Be Informed To A Certain Degree.

I See,... And With The Deepest Affliction, The Rapid Strides With Which The Federal Branch Of Our Government Is Advancing Towards The Usurpation Of All The Rights Reserved To The States, And The Consolidation In Itself Of All Powers, Foreign And Domestic; And That, Too, By Constructions Which, If Legitimate, Leave No Limits To Their Power... It Is But Too Evident That The Three Ruling Branches Of [the Federal Government] Are In Combination To Strip Their Colleagues, The State Authorities, Of The Powers Reserved By Them, And To Exercise Themselves All Functions Foreign And Domestic.

The Press Is Impotent When It Abandons Itself To Falsehood.

The General Desire Of Men To Live By Their Heads Rather Than Their Hands, And The Strong Allurements Of Great Cities To Those Who Have Any Turn For Dissipation, Threaten To Make Them Here, As In Europe, The Sinks Of Voluntary Misery.

Everything Is Useful Which Contributes To Fix The Principles And Practices Of Virtue.

Determine Never To Be Idle. No Person Will Have Occasion To Complain Of The Want Of Time Who Never Loses Any. It Is Wonderful How Much May Be Done If We Are Always Doing.

It Is So Difficult To Draw A Clear Line Of Separation Between The Abuse And The Wholesome Use Of The Press, That As Yet We Have Found It Better To Trust The Public Judgment, Rather Than The Magistrate, With The Discrimination Between Truth And Falsehood. And Hitherto The Public Judgment Has Performed That Office With Wonderful Correctness.

I Cannot Live Without Books.

Nothing Is So Disgusting To Our Sex As Want Of Cleanliness And Delicacy In Yours.

Can The Liberties Of A Nation Be Thought Secure When We Have Remover Their Only Firm Basis, A Conviction In The Minds Of The People That These Liberties Are The Gift Of God? That They Are Not To Be Violated But With His Wrath? Indeed, I Tremble For My Country When I Reflect That God Is Just; That His Justice Cannot Sleep Forever.

I Believe In Good Luck, And The Harder I Work And The More I Believe In Myself, The Luckier I Get.

The Constitution Has Erected No Such Single Tribunal, Knowing That To Whatever Hands Confided, With The Corruption's Of Time And Party, Its Members Would Become Despots.

Industry, Commerce And Security Are The Surest Roads To The Happiness And Prosperity Of People.

A Nation's Best Defense Is An Educated Citizenry

Circumstances Sometimes Require, That Rights The Most Unquestionable Should Be Advanced With Delicacy.

A Superintending Power To Maintain The Universe In Its Course And Order.

I Feel... An Ardent Desire To See Knowledge So Disseminated Through The Mass Of Mankind That It May, At Length, Reach Even The Extremes Of Society: Beggars And Kings.

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

Knowledge Is Power

Inspirational Quotes On: Honesty, Simplicity, Secret, Universe, Modesty, Peace Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom.

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.

I Advance It Therefore As A Suspicion Only, That The Blacks, Whether Originally A Distinct Race, Or Made Distinct By Time And Circumstances, Are Inferior To The Whites In The Endowments Of Both Body And Mind.

A Walk About Paris Will Provide Lessons In History, Beauty, And In The Point Of Life.

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 Bible Makes The Best People In The World.

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

I Hope That We Have Not Labored In Vain, And That Our Experiment Will Still Prove That Men Can Be Governed By Reason.

I Am Already Sensible Of Decay In The Power Of Walking, And Find My Memory Not So Faithful As It Used To Be. This May Be Partly Owing To The Incessant Current Of New Matter Flowing Constantly Through It; But I Ascribe To Years Their Share In It Also.

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