Background Image

...

But Whatever Be Their Degree Of Talent It Is No Measure Of Their Rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton Was Superior To Others In Understanding, He Was Not Therefore Lord Of The Person Or Property Of Others. On This Subject They Are Gaining Daily In The Opinions Of Nations, And Hopeful Advances Are Making Towards Their Re- Establishment On An Equal Footing With The Other Colors Of The Human Family.

-Thomas Jefferson

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

But Whatever Be Their

Thomas Jefferson

...

But Whatever Be Their Degree Of Talent It Is No Measure Of Their Rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton Was Superior To Others In Understanding, He Was Not Therefore Lord Of The Person Or Property Of Others. On This Subject They Are Gaining Daily In The Opinions Of Nations, And Hopeful Advances Are Making Towards Their Re- Establishment On An Equal Footing With The Other Colors Of The Human Family.

Views: 10

Topic

More From Thomas Jefferson

A Departure From Principle In One Instance Becomes A Precedent For A Second; That Second For A Third; And So On, Till The Bulk Of The Society Is Reduced To Be Mere Automatons Of Misery, To Have No Sensibilities Left But For Sin And Suffering.

It Is A Principle That The Right To A Thing Gives A Right To The Means Without Which It Could Not Be Used, That Is To Say, That The Means Follow Their End.

But When A Long Train Of Abuses And Usurpations, Pursuing Invariably The Same Object Evinces A Design To Reduce Them Under Absolute Despotism, It Is Their Right, It Is Their Duty, To Throw Off Such Government, And To Provide New Guards For Their Future Security.

My Great Wish Is To Go On In A Strict But Silent Performance Of My Duty; To Avoid Attracting Notice, And To Keep My Name Out Of The Newspapers.

Material Abundance Without Character Is The Surest Way To Destruction.

With All The Imperfections Of Our Present Government, It Is Without Comparison The Best Existing, Or That Ever Did Exist.

Beer, If Drank With Moderation, Softens The Temper, Cheers The Spirit, And Promotes Health.

The Tumults In America I Expected Would Have Produced In Europe An Unfavorable Opinion Of Our Political State. But It Has Not. On The Contrary, The Small Effect Of These Tumults Seems To Have Given More Confidence In The Firmness Of Our Governments. The Interposition Of The People Themselves On The Side Of Government Has Had A Great Effect On The Opinion Here In Europe.

The Whole History Of These Books (i.e. The Gospels) Is So Defective And Doubtful That It Seems Vain To Attempt Minute Enquiry Into It: And Such Tricks Have Been Played With Their Text, And With The Texts Of Other Books Relating To Them, That We Have A Right, From That Cause, To Entertain Much Doubt What Parts Of Them Are Genuine. In The New Testament There Is Internal Evidence That Parts Of It Have Proceeded From An Extraordinary Man; And That Other Parts Are Of The Fabric Of Very Inferior Minds. It Is As Easy To Separate Those Parts, As To Pick Out Diamonds From Dunghills.

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.

It Is Strangely Absurd To Suppose That A Million Of Human Beings, Collected Together, Are Not Under The Same Moral Laws Which Bind Each Of Them Separately.

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 Considered 4 Of These Bills [of The Revised Code Of Virginia] As Forming A System By Which Every Fibre Would Be Eradicated Of Antient Or Future Aristocracy; And A Foundation Laid For A Government Truly Republican.

That These Are Our Grievances Which We Have Thus Laid Before His Majesty, With That Freedom Of Language And Sentiment Which Becomes A Free People Claiming Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.

I Do Not Take A Single Newspaper, Nor Read One A Month, And I Feel Myself Infinitely The Happier For It.

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.... [instead] Reason And Persuasion Are The Only Practicable Instruments. To Make Way For These, Free Enquiry Must Be Indulged; And How Can We Wish Others To Indulge It While We Refuse It Ourselves?

In A Virtuous Government, And More Especially In Times Like These, Public Offices Are What They Should Be - Burdens To Those Appointed To Them Which It Would Be Wrong To Decline, Though Foreseen To Bring Them Intense Labor And Great Private Loss.

Times Like These

Among The Values Of Classical Learning I Estimate The Luxury Of Reading The Greek & Roman Authors In All The Beauties Of Their Originals ... I Think Myself More Indebted To My Father For This, Than For All The Other Luxuries His Cares And Affections Have Placed Within My Reach.

The Influence Over Government Must Be Shared Among All The People. If Every Individual Which Composes Their Mass Participates Of The Ultimate Authority, The Government Will Be Safe, Because The Corrupting Of The Whole Mass Will Exceed Any Private Resources Of Wealth, And Public Ones Cannot Be Provided But By Levies On The People. In This Case Every Man Would Have To Pay His Own Price.

Perhaps It Will Be Found That To Obtain A Just Republic (and It Is To Secure Our Just Rights That We Resort To Government At All) It Must Be So Extensive As That Local Egoisms May Never Reach Its Greater Part; That On Every Particular Question, A Majority May Be Found In Its Councils Free From Particular Interests, And Giving, Therefore, An Uniform Prevalence To The Principles Of Justice.

The Purpose Of Government Is To Enable The People Of A Nation To Live In Safety And Happiness. Government Exists For The Interests Of The Governed, Not For The Governors.

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

Blest Is That Nation Whose Silent Course Of Happiness Furnishes Nothing For History To Say.

One Generation Cannot Bind Another.

Nobody Can Acquire Honor By Doing What Is Wrong.

Without Books, I Would Certainly Die.

[an] Act Of The Congress Of The United States... Which Assumes Powers... Not Delegated By The Constitution, Is Not Law, But Is Altogether Void And Of No Force.

[the Federal Convention] Is Really An Assembly Of Demigods.

It Is To Them I Look, To The Rising Generation, And Not To The One Now In Power, For These Great Reformations I.e., Emancipation Of Slaves And Settlement Of The Virginia Constitution On A Firmer And More Permanent Basis.

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.

Never Did A Prisoner, Released From His Chains, Feel Such Relief As I Shall On Shaking Off The Shackles Of Power.

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.

I Tremble For My Country When I Reflect That God Is Just; That His Justice Cannot Sleep Forever.

It Is More Dangerous That Even A Guilty Person Should Be Punished Without The Forms Of Law Than That He Should Escape.

Compulsion In Religion Is Distinguished Peculiarly From Compulsion In Every Other Thing. ...i Cannot Be Saved By A Worship I Disbelieve And Abhor.

I Am For A Government Rigorously Frugal & Simple, Applying All The Possible Savings Of The Public Revenue To The Discharge Of The National Debt; And Not For A Multiplication Of Officers & Salaries Merely To Make Partisans, & For Increasing, By Every Device, The Public Debt, On The Principle Of Its Being A Public Blessing.

Nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly.

The Moment A Person Forms A Theory, His Imagination Sees In Every Object Only The Traits Which Favor That Theory.

When Virtue Is Banished, Ambition Invades The Minds Of Those Who Are Disposed To Receive It, And Avarice Possesses The Whole Community. The Objects Of Their Desires Are Changed; What They Were Fond Of Before Has Become Indifferent; They Were Free While Under The Restraint Of Laws, But They Would Fain Now Be Free To Act Against Law.

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

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

It Is Mortifying To Suppose It Possible That A People Able And Zealous To Contend With The Enemy Should Be Reduced To Fold Their Arms For Want Of The Means Of Defence; Yet No Resources That We Know Of, Ensure Us Against This Event.

That The Several States Who Formed That Instrument, Being Sovereign And Independent, Have The Unquestionable Right To Judge Of Its Infraction; And That A Nullification, By Those Sovereignties, Of All Unauthorized Acts Done Under Colour Of That Instrument, Is The Rightful Remedy.

Knowledge Indeed Is A Desirable, A Lovely Possession.

The Information Of The People At Large Can Alone Make Them The Safe As They Are The Sole Depositary Of Our Political And Religious Freedom.

I Do Verily Believe That A Single, Consolidated Government Would Become The Most Corrupt Government On The Earth.

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.

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

Never Was So Much False Arithmetic Employed On Any Subject, As That Which Has Been Employed To Persuade Nations That It Is In Their Interest To Go To War.

A Determination Never To Do What Is Wrong, Prudence, And Good-humor, Will Go Far Toward Securing To You The Estimation Of The World.

Those Who Don’t Read The Newspapers Are Better Off Than Those Who Do Insofar As Those Who Know Nothing Are Better Off Than Those Whose Heads Are Filled With Half-truths And Lies.

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

If Virtuous, The Government Need Not Fear The Fair Operation Of Attack And Defense. Nature Has Given To Man No Other Means Of Sifting The Truth, Either In Religion, Law, Or Politics.

[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.

The Private Buildings [of Virginia] Are Very Rarely Constructed Of Stone Or Brick; Much The Greatest Proportion Being Of Scantlingand Boards, Plastered With Lime. It Is Impossible To Devise Things More Ugly, Uncomfortable, And Happily More Perishable.

...the Science Of Calculation Also Is Indispensable As Far As The Extraction Of The Square And Cube Roots: Algebra As Far As The Quadratic Equation And The Use Of Logarithms Are Often Of Value In Ordinary Cases: But All Beyond These Is But A Luxury; A Delicious Luxury Indeed; But Not Be In Indulged In By One Who Is To Have A Profession To Follow For His Subsistence.

If The Question [before Justices Of The Peace] Relate To Any Point Of Public Liberty, Or If It Be One Of Those In Which The Judges May Be Suspected Of Bias, The Jury Undertake To Decide Both Law And Fact.

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.

The Parties Of Whig And Tory Are Those Of Nature. They Exist In All Countries, Whether Called By These Names Or By Those Of Aristocrats And Democrats, Cote Droite And Cote Gauche, Ultras And Radicals, Serviles And Liberals. The Sickly, Weakly, Timid Man Fears The People, And Is A Tory By Nature. The Healthy, Strong And Bold Cherishes Them, And Is Formed A Whig By Nature.

The Ground Of Liberty Is To Be Gained By Inches, And We Must Be Contented To Secure What We Can Get From Time To Time And Eternally Press Forward For What Is Yet To Get. It Takes Time To Persuade Men To Do Even What Is For Their Own Good.

Take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle.

We Ought Not To Schismatize On Either Men Or Measures. Principles Alone Can Justify That.

A Government Held Together By The Bands Of Reason Only, Requires Much Compromise Of Opinion.

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!

But Friendship Is Precious, Not Only In The Shade, But In The Sunshine Of Life, And Thanks To A Benevolent Arrangement The Greater Part Of Life Is Sunshine.

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.

He Alone Who Walks Strict And Upright, And Who, In Matters Of Opinion, Will Be Contented That Others Should Be As Free As Himself And Acquiesce When His Opinion Is Freely Overruled, Will Attain His Object In The End.

Political Interest [can] Never Be Separated In The Long Run From Moral Right.

The Field Of Knolege Is The Common Property Of All Mankind

Old Heads As Well As Young May Sometimes Be Charged With Ignorance And Presumption. The Natural Course Of The Human Mind Is Certainly From Credulity To Skepticism.

If Any Doubt Has Arisen As To Me, My Country [virginia] Will Have My Political Creed In The Form Of A "declaration &c." Which I Was Lately Directed To Draw. This Will Give Decisive Proof That My Own Sentiment Concurred With The Vote They Instructed Us To Give.

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.

The Only True Corrective Of Constitutional Abuses Is Education.

Laws Provide Against Injury From Others; But Not From Ourselves.

Democracies Have

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

To Draw Around The Whole Nation The Strength Of The General Government As A Barrier Against Foreign Foes... Is [one Of The] Functions Of The General Government On Which [our Citizens] Have A Right To Call.

I Hold It That A Little Rebellion, Now And Then, Is A Good Thing, And As Necessary In The Political World As Storms Are In The Physical. Unsuccessful Rebellions, Indeed, Generally Establish The Encroachments On The Rights Of The People, Which Have Produced Them. An Observation Of This Truth Should Render Honest Republican Governors So Mild In Their Punishment Of Rebellions, As Not To Discourage Them Too Much. It Is Medicine Necessary For The Sound Health Of Government.

He Who Lights His [candle] At Mine Receives Light Without Darkening Me.

Free Men Do Not Ask Permission To Bear Arms

Do You Want To Know Who You Are? Don't Ask. Act! Action Will Delineate And Define You.

In Every Country Where Man Is Free To Think And To Speak, Difference Of Opinion Will Arise From Difference Of Perception, And The Imperfection Of Reason; But These Differences, When Permitted, As In This Happy Country, To Purify Themselves By Free Discussion, Are But As Passing Clouds Overspreading Our Land Transiently, And Leaving Our Horizon More Bright And Serene.

Where The Preamble Declares, That Coercion Is A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion, An Amendment Was Proposed By Inserting "jesus Christ," So That It Would Read "a Departure From The Plan Of Jesus Christ, The Holy Author Of Our Religion;" The Insertion Was Rejected By The Great Majority, In Proof That They Meant To Comprehend, Within The Mantle Of Its Protection, The Jew And The Gentile, The Christian And Mohammedan, The Hindoo And Infidel Of Every Denomination.

Reason And Free Inquiry Are The Only Effectual Agents Against Error.

No Government Should Be Without Critics. If Its Intentions Are Good Then It Has Nothing To Fear From Criticism.

Instead Of That Liberty Which Takes Root And Growth In The Progress Of Reason, If Recovered By Mere Force Or Accident, It Becomes With An Unprepared People A Tyranny Still Of The Many, The Few, Or The One.

Our Cause Is Just. Our Union Is Perfect. ... With Hearts Fortified ... We Most Solemnly, Before God And The World, Declare That... We Will, In Defiance Of Every Hazard, With Unabating Firmness And Perseverence, Employ For The Preservation Of Our Liberties; Being With One Mind Resolved To Die Freemen Rather Than To Live Slaves.

[t]he True Key For The Construction Of Everything Doubtful In A Law Is The Intention Of The Law-makers. This Is Most Safely Gathered From The Words, But May Be Sought Also In Extraneous Circumstances Provided They Do Not Contradict The Express Words Of The Law.

A Little Rebellion Now And Then Is A Good Thing. Rebellion To Tyrants Is Obedience To God. In Order To Flourish, The Tree Of Liberty Needs The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants.

The Clergy Converted The Simple Teachings Of Jesus Into An Engine For Enslaving Mankind And Adulterated By Artificial Constructions Into A Contrivance To Filch Wealth And Power To Themselves...these Clergy, In Fact, Constitute The Real Anti-christ.

We Owe Gratitude To France, Justice To England, Good Will To All, And Subservience To None ... It Was By The Sober Sense Of Our Citizens That We Were Safely And Steadily Conducted From Monarchy To Republicanism, And It Is By The Same Agency Alone We Can Be Kept From Falling Back.

And, In General, That Branch Which Is To Act Ultimately And Without Appeal On Any Law Is The Rightful Expositor Of The Validity Of The Law, Uncontrolled By The Opinions Of The Other Coordinate Authorities.

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

Of All Exercises, Walking Is The Best.

1.never Put Off Till To-morrow What You Can Do To-day. 2.never Trouble Another For What You Can Do Yourself. 3.never Spend Your Money Before You Have It. 4.never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You. 5.pride Costs Us More Than Hunger, Thirst, And Cold. 6.we Never Repent Of Having Eaten Too Little. 7.nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly. 8.how Much Pain Have Cost Us The Evils Which Have Never Happened. 9.take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle. 10.when Angry, Count Ten, Before You Speak; If Very Angry, A Hundred.

The Clergy, By Getting Themselves Established By Law And In-grafted Into The Machine Of Government, Have Been A Very Formidable Engine Against The Civil And Religious Rights Of Man.

If We Move In Mass, Be It Ever So Circuitously, We Shall Attain Our Object; But If We Break Into Squads, Everyone Pursuing The Path He Thinks Most Direct, We Become An Easy Conquest To Those Who Can Now Barely Hold Us In Check.

Unmerited Abuse Wounds, While Unmerited Praise Has Not The Power To Heal.

The Smell Rewards The Care.

The Man Who Reads Nothing At All Is Better Educated Than The Man Who Reads Nothing But Newspapers.

The Possession Of Facts Is Knowledge; The Use Of Them Is Wisdom.

The Wise Know Too Well Their Weakness To Assume Infallibility; And He Who Knows Most Knows Best How Little He Knows.

Men By Their Constitutions Are Naturally Divided Into Two Parties: 1. Those Who Fear And Distrust The People, And Wish To Draw All Powers From Them Into The Hands Of The Higher Classes. 2. Those Who Identify Themselves With The People, Have Confidence In Them, Cherish And Consider Them As The Most Honest And Safe, Although Not The Most Wise Depositary Of The Public Interests. In Every Country These Two Parties Exist, And In Every One Where They Are Free To Think, Speak, And Write, They Will Declare Themselves.

I Know Of No Safe Depository Of The Ultimate Power Of The Society But The People Themselves.

Having Labored Faithfully In Establishing The Right Of Self-government, We See In The Rising Generation, Into Whose Hands It Is Passing, That Purity Of Principle And Energy Of Character Which Will Protect And Preserve It Through Their Day, And Deliver It Over To Their Sons As They Receive It From Their Fathers.

Although Our Prospect Is Peace, Our Policy And Purpose Are To Provide For Defense By All Those Means To Which Our Resources Are Competent.

No Man Will Ever Carry Out Of The Presidency The Reputation Which Carried Him Into It.

With Those Who Wish To Think Amiss Of Me, I Have Learnt To Be Perfectly Indifferent: But Where I Know A Mind To Be Ingenuous, Andto Need Only Truth To Set It To Rights, I Cannot Be As Passive.

The States Should Be Urged To Concede To The General Government, With A Saving Of Chartered Rights, The Exclusive Power Of Establishing Banks Of Discount For Paper.

Having Seen The People Of All Other Nations Bowed Down To The Earth Under The Wars And Prodigalities Of Their Rulers, I Have Cherished Their Opposites, Peace, Economy, And Riddance Of Public Debt, Believing That These Were The High Road To Public As Well As Private Prosperity And Happiness.

Freedom [is] The First-born Daughter Of Science

The Concentrating Of Powers In The Same Hands Is Precisely The Definition Of Despotic Government. It Will Be No Alleviation That These Powers Will Be Exercised By A Plurality Of Hands, And Not By A Single One.

Our Country Is Now Taking So Steady A Course As To Show By What Road It Will Pass To Destruction, To Wit: By Consolidation Of Power First, And Then Corruption, Its Necessary Consequence.

No Country And No People Can Be Free And Ignorant At The Same Time.

Our Wish Is That...[there Be] Maintained That State Of Property, Equal Or Unequal, Which Results To Every Man From His Own Industry Or That Of His Fathers.

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.

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

The Functionaries Of Public Power Rarely Strengthen In Their Dispositions To Abridge It, And An Unorganized Call For Timely Amendment Is Not Likely To Prevail Against An Organized Opposition To It. We Are Always Told That Things Are Going On Well; Why Change Them? 'chi Sta Bene, No Si Mueve,' Said The Italian, 'let Him Who Stands Well, Stand Still.' This Is True; And I Verily Believe They Would Go On Well With Us Under An Absolute Monarch, While Our Present Character Remains, Of Order, Industry And Love Of Peace, And Restrained As He Would Be, By The Proper Spirit Of The People.

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.

No Man Will Ever Bring Out Of The Presidency The Reputation Which Carries Him Into It. To Myself, Personally, It Brings Nothing But Increasing Drudgery And Daily Loss Of Friends.

The Spirit Of Resistance To Government Is So Valuable On Certain Occasions That I Wish It To Be Always Kept Alive.

I See No Comfort In Outliving One's Friends, And Remaining A Mere Monument Of The Times Which Are Past.

Health Is Value Greater Than Studying.

Victory And Defeat Are Each Of The Same Price.

Victory And Defeat

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.

Music, Drawing, Books, Invention & Exercise Will Be So Many Resources To You Against Ennui.

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.

He Has Waged Cruel War Against Human Nature Itself, Violating It’s Most Sacred Rights Of Life & Liberty In The Persons Of A Distant People Who Never Offended Him, Captivating & Carrying Them Into Slavery In Another Hemisphere, Or To Incur Miserable Death In Their Transportation Thither. This Piratical Warfare, The Opprobrium Of Infidel Powers, Is The Warfare Of The Christian King Of Great Britain. Determined To Keep Open A Market Where Men Should Be Bought & Sold, He Has Prostituted His Negative For Suppressing Every Legislative Attempt To Prohibit Or To Restrain This Execrable Commerce...

Everything Yields To Diligence.

Motivational Work

In Our Own Native Land, In Defense Of The Freedom That Is Our Birthright And Which We Ever Enjoyed Till The Late Violation Of It. For The Protection Of Our Property, Acquired Solely By The Honest Industry Of Our Fore-fathers And Ourselves, Against Violence Actually Offered, We Have Taken Up Arms. We Shall Lay Them Down When Hostilities Shall Cease On The Part Of The Aggressors, And All Danger Of Their Being Renewed Shall Be Removed, And Not Before.

The Religion-builders Have So Distorted And Deformed The Doctrines Of Jesus, So Muffled Them In Mysticism, Fancies, And Falsehoods.

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

The Man Who Never Looks Into A Newspaper Is Better Informed Than He Who Reads Them, In-as-much As He Who Knows Nothing Is Nearer To The Truth Than He Whose Mind Is Filled With Falsehood And Errors.

I Hope The Terms Of Excellency, Honor, Worship, Esquire, Forever Disappear From Among Us... I Wish That Of Mr. Would Follow Them.

Where A New Invention Promises To Be Useful, It Ought To Be Tried.

Our Attachment To No Nation On Earth Should Supplant Our Attachment To Liberty.

They Are Nations Of Eternal War. All Their Energies Are Expended In The Destruction Of The Labor, Property, And Lives Of Their People.

The Power Of Declaring War Being With The Legislature, The Executive Should Do Nothing Necessarily Committing Them To Decide For War In Preference Of Non-intercourse, Which Will Be Preferred By A Great Many.

We Confide In Our Strength, Without Boasting Of It, We Respect That Of Others, Without Fearing It.

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.

Our Part Is To Pursue With Steadiness What Is Right, Turning Neither To Right Nor Left For The Intrigues Or Popular Delusions Of The Day, Assured That The Public Approbation Will In The End Be With Us.

The Main Objects Of All Science, The Freedom And Happiness Of Man. . . . [are] The Sole Objects Of All Legitimate Government. A Plaque With This Quotation, With The First Phrase Omitted, Is In The Stairwell Of The Pedestal Of The Statue Of Liberty.

A Good Neighbor Is A Very Desireable Thing.

Equal Rights For All, Special Privileges For None

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

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.

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.

Planting Is One Of My Great Amusements, And Even Of Those Things Which Can Only Be For Posterity, For A Septuagenary Has No Right To Count On Any Thing But Annuals.

If [god] Has Made It A Law In The Nature Of Man To Pursue His Own Happiness, He Has Left Him Free In The Choice Of Place As Well As Mode, And We May Safely Call On The Whole Body Of English Jurists To Produce The Map On Which Nature Has Traced For Each Individual The Geographical Line Which She Forbids Him To Cross In Pursuit Of Happiness.

Pursuit Of Happiness

I Have Never Been Able To Conceive How Any Rational Being Could Propose Happiness To Himself From The Exercise Of Power Over Others... An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens.... Power Is Not Alluring To Pure Minds And Is Not With Them The Primary Principle Of Contest.

Self-love . . . Is The Sole Antagonist Of Virtue, Leading Us Constantly By Our Propensities To Self-gratification In Violation Of Our Moral Duties To Others.

Rejecting All Organs Of Informationbut My Senses, I Rid Myself Of The Pyrrhonisms With Which An Indulgence In Speculations Hyperphysical And Antiphysical So Uselessly Occupy And Disquiet The Mind.

The Rational And Peaceable Instrument Of Reform, The Suffrage Of The People.

The Only Orthodox Object Of The Institution Of Government Is To Secure The Greatest Degree Of Happiness Possible To The General Mass Of Those Associated Under It.

They Are Exactly The Persons Who Are To Succeed To The Government Of Our Country And To Rule Its Future Enmities, Its Friendships And Fortunes.

If I Could Not Go To Heaven With But A Party, I Would Not Go There At All. Therefore, I Am Not Of The Party Of Federalists. But I Am Much Further From That Of The Anti-federalists.

The Minority Possess Their Equal Rights, Which Equal Law Must Protect, And To Violate Would Be Oppression.

I Would Observe To You That What Is Called Style In Writing Or Speaking Is Formed Very Early In Life While The Imagination Is Warm, And Impressions Are Permanent.

The Art Of Governing Consists Simply Of Being Honest, Exercising Common Sense, Following Principle, And Doing What Is Right And Just.

The Sentiments Of Men Are Known Not Only By What They Receive, But What They Reject Also.

I Never Before Knew The Full Value Of Trees....what Would I Not Give That The Trees Planted Nearest Round The House At Monticello Were Full Grown.

The World Is Indebted For All Triumphs Which Have Been Gained By Reason And Humanity Over Error And Oppression.

The Earth Belongs To The Living, Not To The Dead.

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

God Forbid We Should Ever Be Twenty Years Without Such A Rebellion.

Second Amendment

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.

The Office Of Reformer Of The Superstitions Of A Nation Is Ever Dangerous.

It Is Proof Of Sincerity, Which I Value Above All Things; As, Between Those Who Practice It, Falsehood And Malice Work Their Efforts In Vain.

We Shall Divert Through Our Own Country A Branch Of Commerce Which The European States Have Thought Worthy Of The Most Important Struggles And Sacrifices, And In The Event Of Peace On Terms Which Have Been Contemplated By Some Powers We Shall Form To The American Union A Barrier Against The Dangerous Extension Of The British Province Of Canada And Add To The Empire Of Liberty An Extensive And Fertile Country Thereby Converting Dangerous Enemies Into Valuable Friends.

I Do Love This People [the French] With All My Heart, And Think That With A Better Religion And A Better Form Of Government And Their Present Governors Their Condition And Country Would Be Most Enviable.

The Purpose Of Establishing Different Houses Of Legislation Is To Introduce The Influence Of Different Interests Or Different Principles.

I Sincerely Wish You May Find It Convenient To Come Here. The Pleasure Of The Trip Will Be Less Than You Expect, But The Utility Greater. It Will Make You Adore Your Own Country, It's Soil, It's Climate, It's Equality, Liberty, Laws, People & Manners. My God! How Little Do My Countrymen Know.

A Society That Will Trade A Little Liberty For A Little Order Will Lose Both, And Deserve Neither.

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

My Opinion Is That There Would Never Have Been An Infidel, If There Had Never Been A Priest. The Artificial Structures They Have Built On The Purest Of All Moral Systems, For The Purpose Of Deriving From It Pence And Power, Revolts Those Who Think For Themselves, And Who Read In That System Only What Is Really There.

Ignorance And Bigotry, Like Other Insanities, Are Incapable Of Self-government.

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

Every Christian Sect Gives A Great Handle To Atheism By Their General Dogma That, Without A Revelation, There Would Not Be Sufficient Proof Of The Being Of God.

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

The Advertisement Is The Most Truthful Part Of A Newspaper.

A Single Zealot May Commence Prosecutor, And Better Men Be His Victims.

To Seek Out The Best [persons To Serve In The Government] Though The Whole Union, We Must Resort To The Information Which From The Best Of Men, Acting Disinterestedly And With Ther Purest Motives, Is Something Incorrect....no Duty The Executive Had To Perform Was So Trying As To Put The Right Man In The Right Place.

The Art Of Reasoning Becomes Of First Importance. In This Line Antiquity Has Left Us The Finest Models For Imitation; I Should Consider The Speeches Of Livy, Sallust, And Tacitus, As Pre-eminent Specimens Of Logic, Taste, And That Sententious Brevity Which, Using Not A Word To Spare, Leaves Not A Moment For Inattention To The Hearer. Amplification Is The Vice Of Modern Oratory.

It Is To Secure Our Rights That We Resort To Government At All.

Taste Cannot Be Controlled By Law.

If We Suffer Ourselves To Be Frightened From Our Post By Mere Lying, Surely The Enemy Will Use That Weapon; For What One So Cheap To Those Of Whose System Of Politics Morality Makes No Part?

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

Those Who Bear Equally The Burthens Of Government Should Equally Participate Of Its Benefits.

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

We Generally Learn Languages For The Benefit Of Reading The Books Written In Them

All Power Is Inherent In The People.

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

Democracies Have

The Truth Is That The Want Of Common Education With Us Is Not From Our Poverty, But From The Want Of An Orderly System. More Money Is Now Paid For The Education Of A Part Than Would Be Paid For That Of The Whole If Systematically Arranged.

I Can Never Fear That Things Will Go Far Wrong Where Common Sense Has Fair Play.

Where The Press Is Free And Every Man Able To Read, All Is Safe.

I Have So Much Confidence In The Good Sense Of Man, And His Qualifications For Self-government, That I Am Never Afraid Of The Issue Where Reason Is Left Free To Exert Her Force.

All The World Would Be Christian If They Were Taught The Pure Gospel Of Christ!.

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.

In Every Country And In Every Age, The Priest Has Been Hostile To Liberty. He Is Always In Alliance With The Despot, Abetting His Abuses In Return For Protection To His Own.

Never Yet Could I Find That A Black Had Uttered A Thought Above The Level Of Plain Narration; Never Saw Even An Elemental Trait Of Painting Or Sculpture.

Leave All The Afternoon For Exercise And Recreation, Which Are As Necessary As Reading. I Will Rather Say More Necessary Because Health Is Worth More Than Learning.

Trending Author

Stephane Hessel

Michelle Branch

Category