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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.

-Thomas Jefferson

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Can The Liberties Of

Thomas Jefferson

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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.

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Never Throw Off The Best Affections Of Nature In The Moment When They Become Most Precious To Their Object; Nor Fear To Extend You Hand To Save Another, Lest You Should Sink Yourself.

Political Dissension Is Doubtless A Less Evil Than The Lethargy Of Despotism: But Still It Is A Great Evil, And It Would Be As Worthy The Efforts Of The Patriot As Of The Philosopher, To Exclude Its Influence If Possible, From Social Life. The Good Are Rare Enough At Best. There Is No Reason To Subdivide Them By Artificial Lines. But Whether We Shall Ever Be Able So Far To Perfect The Principles Of Society As That Political Opinions Shall, In Its Intercourse, Be As Inoffensive As Those Of Philosophy, Mechanics, Or Any Other, May Well Be Doubted.

Political Opinions

Our [virginia's] Act For Freedom Of Religion Is Extremely Applauded. The Ambassadors And Ministers Of The Several Nations Of Europe Resident At This Court Have Asked Me Copies Of It To Send To Their Sovereigns, And It Is Inserted At Full Length In Several Books Now In The Press; Among Others, In The New Encyclopédie. I Think It Will Produce Considerable Good Even In Those Countries Where Ignorance, Superstition, Poverty And Oppression Of Body And Mind In Every Form, Are So Firmly Settled On The Mass Of The People, That Their Redemption From Them Can Never Be Hoped.

As New Discoveries Are Made, New Truths Discovered And Manners And Opinions Change With The Change Of Circumstances, Institutions Must Advance Also To Keep Pace With The Times.

I Think It Is A Great Error To Consider A Heavy Tax On Wines As A Tax On Luxury. On The Contrary, It Is A Tax On The Health Of Our Citizens.

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

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.

Our Judges Are As Honest As Other Men And Not More So. They Have, With Others, The Same Passions For Party, For Power, And The Privilege Of Their Corps.

If By Religion We Are To Understand Sectarian Dogmas, In Which No Two Of Them Agree, Then Your Exclamation On That Hypothesis Is Just, "that This Would Be The Best Of Worlds If There Were No Religion In It.

Every Man Has Two Countries: His Own And France.

Countries Of The World

Common Sense Is The Foundation Of All Authorities, Of The Laws Themselves, And Of Their Construction.

Ignorance Is Preferable To Error, And He Is Less Remote From The Truth Who Believes Nothing Than He Who Believes What Is Wrong.

Light And Liberty Go Together.

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.

Excessive Taxation . . . Will Carry Reason & Reflection To Every Man's Door, And Particularly In The Hour Of Election.

It Will Take A Thousand Years For The Frontier To Reach The Pacific

Difference Of Opinion Leads To Enquiry, And Enquiry To Truth; And I Am Sure...we Both Value Too Much The Freedom Of Opinion Sanctioned By Our Constitution, Not To Cherish Its Exercise Even Where In Opposition To Ourselves.

It Behooves Our Citizens To Be On Their Guard, To Be Firm In Their Principles, And Full Of Confidence In Themselves. We Are Able To Preserve Our Self-government If We Will But Think So.

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

Chemistry Is Yet, Indeed, A Mere Embryon. Its Principles Are Contested; Experiments Seem Contradictory; Their Subjects Are So Minute As To Escape Our Senses; And Their Result Too Fallacious To Satisfy The Mind. It Is Probably An Age Too Soon To Propose The Establishment Of A System.

I Have Come To A Resolution Myself As I Hope Every Good Citizen Will, Never Again To Purchase Any Article Of Foreign Manufacture Which Can Be Had Of American Make, Be The Difference Of Price What It May.

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

Laws That Forbid The Carrying Of Arms Disarm Only Those Who Are Neither Inclined Nor Determined To Commit Crimes.

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.

And Even Should The Cloud Of Barbarism And Despotism Again Obscure The Science And Libraries Of Europe, This Country Remains To Preserve And Restore Light And Liberty To Them.

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

Timid Men Prefer The Calm Of Despotism To The Tempestuous Sea Of Liberty.

The Most Effectual Means Of Preventing The Perversion Of Power Into Tyranny Are To Illuminate, As Far As Practicable, The Minds Of The People At Large, And More Especially To Give Them Knowledge Of Those Facts Which History Exhibits, That Possessed Thereby Of The Experience Of Other Ages And Countries, They May Be Enabled To Know Ambition Under All Its Shapes, And Prompt To Exert Their Natural Powers To Defeat Its Purposes.

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

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.

The Greeks By Their Laws, And The Romans By The Spirit Of Their People, Took Care To Put Into The Hands Of Their Rulers No Such Engine Of Oppression As A Standing Army. Their System Was To Make Every Man A Soldier, And Oblige Him To Repair To The Standard Of His Country Whenever That Was Reared. This Made Them Invincible; And The Same Remedy Will Make Us So.

It Is Part Of The American Character To Consider Nothing As Desperate.

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.

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.

The Constitution Has Divided The Powers Of Government Into Three Branches, Legislative, Executive And Judiciary, Lodging Each With A Distinct Magistracy. The Legislative It Has Given Completely To The Senate And House Of Representatives. It Has Declared That The Executive Powers Shall Be Vested In The President, Submitting Special Articles Of It To A Negative By The Senate, And It Has Vested The Judiciary Power In The Courts Of Justice, With Certain Exceptions Also In Favor Of The Senate.

The Flames Kindled On The Fourth Of July, 1776, Have Spread Over Too Much Of The Globe To Be Extinguished By The Feeble Engines Of Despotism; On The Contrary, They Will Consume These Engines And All Who Work Them.

I Will Now Add What I Do Not Like. First, The Omission Of A Bill Of Rights Providing Clearly And Without The Aid Of Sophisms For Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of The Press, Protection Against Standing Armies, Restriction Against Monopolies, The Eternal And Unremitting Force Of The Habeas Corpus Laws, And Trials By Jury In All Matters Of Fact Triable By The Laws Of The Land And Not By The Law Of Nations.

Defend Our Liberties And Fashion Into One United People The Multitudes Brought Hither Out Of Many Kindred And Tongues.

I Am For Freedom Of Religion, And Against All Maneuvers To Bring About A Legal Ascendency Of One Sect Over Another.

The Same Prudence Which In Private Life Would Forbid Our Paying Our Own Money For Unexplained Projects, Forbids It In The Dispensation Of The Public Moneys.

No Provision In Our Constitution Ought To Be Dearer To Man Than That Which Protects The Rights Of Conscience Against The Enterprises Of The Civil Authority.

[t]o Preserve The Republican Form And Principles Of Our Constitution And Cleave To The Salutary Distribution Of Powers Which That [the Constitution] Has Established . . . Are The Two Sheet Anchors Of Our Union. If Driven From Either, We Shall Be In Danger Of Foundering.

Distribution Of Power

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.

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.

Every Experience Deeply Felt In Life Needs To Be Passed Along. Wheather It Be Through Words And Music, Chiseled In Stone, Painted With A Brush, Or Sewn With A Needle, It Is A Way Of Reaching For Immortality.

Perfection In Wisdom, As Well As In Integrity, Is Neither Required Nor Expected In These Agents (public Servants). It Belongs Not To Man. The Wise Know Too Well Their Weaknesses To Assume Infallibility; And He Who Knows Most, Knows Best How Little He Knows.

When, In Short, We Shall Have Unlearned Everything Which Has Been Taught Since His [jesus'] Day, And Got Back To The Pure And Simple Doctrines He Inculcated, We Shall Then Be Truly And Worthily His Disciples: And My Opinion Is That If Nothing Had Ever Been Added To What Flowed Purely From His Lips, The Whole World Would At This Day Have Been Christian.

Amplification Is The Vice Of Modern Oratory.

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

What A Stupendous, What An Incomprehensible Machine Is Man! Who Can Endure Toil, Famine, Stripes, Imprisonment & Death Itself In Vindication Of His Own Liberty, And The Next Moment ... Inflict On His Fellow Men A Bondage, One Hour Of Which Is Fraught With More Misery Than Ages Of That Which He Rose In Rebellion To Oppose.

We Sometimes From Dreams Pick Up Some Hint Worth Improving By Reflection.

[a]lthough A Republican Government Is Slow To Move, Yet When Once In Motion, Its Momentum Becomes Irresistible.

I Cannot Live Without Books: But Fewer Will Suffice Where Amusement, And Not Use, Is The Only Future Object.

War Is An Instrument Entirely Inefficient Toward Redressing Wrong; And Multiplies, Instead Of Indemnifying Losses.

We Need A Revolution Every 20 Years Just To Keep Government Honest.

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

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.

A Rising Nation, Spread Over A Wide And Fruitful Land, Traversing All The Seas With The Rich Production Of Their Industry.

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.

I Apprehend... That The Total Abandonment Of The Principle Of Rotation In The Offices Of President And Senator Will End In Abuse.

Nobody Can Acquire Honor By Doing What Is Wrong.

Fix Reason Firmly In Her Seat, And Call On Her Tribunal For Every Fact, Every Opinion. Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God

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.

Ignorance Is A Poor Tool In A Battle Of Wits.

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

I Recoil With Horror At The Ferociousness Of Man. Will Nations Never Devise A More Rational Umpire Of Differences Than Force? Are There No Means Of Coercing Injustice More Gratifying To Our Nature Than A Waste Of The Blood Of Thousands And Of The Labor Of Millions Of Our Fellow Creatures?

In A Free Society With A Government Based On Reason, It Is Inevitable That There Will Be No Uniform Opinion About Important Issues. Those Accustomed To Suppression And Control By Governmental Authority See This As Leading Only To Chaos. But A Government Of The People Requires Difference Of Opinion In Order To Discover Truth And To Take Advantage Of The Opportunity That Only Understanding Brings.

The Oppressed Should Rebel, And They Will Continue To Rebel And Raise Disturbance Until Their Civil Rights Are Fully Restored To Them And All Partial Distinctions, Exlusions, And Incapacitations Are Removed.

Indeed, We Need Not Look Back Half A Century To Times Which Many Now Living Remember Well, And See The Wonderful Advances In The Sciences And Arts Which Have Been Made Within That Period. Some Of These Have Rendered The Elements Themselves Subservient To The Purposes Of Man, Have Harnessed Them To The Yoke Of His Labors And Effected The Great Blessings Of Moderating His Own, Of Accomplishing What Was Beyond His Feeble Force, And Extending The Comforts Of Life To A Much Enlarged Circle, To Those Who Had Before Known Its Necessaries Only.

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.

My Principles, And Those Always Received By The Republicans, Do Not Admit To Removing Any Person From Office Merely For A Difference Of Political Opinion. Malversations In Office, And The Exerting Of Official Influence To Control The Freedom Of Election Are Good Causes For Removal.

Political Opinions

It [appears] That However Certain Forms Of Government Are Better Calculated Than Others To Protect Individuals In The Free Exercise Of Their Natural Rights, And Are At The Same Time Themselves Better Guarded Against Degeneracy, Yet Experience [has] Shown That, Even Under The Best Forms, Those Entrusted With Power Have, In Time And By Slow Operations, Perverted It Into Tyranny.

The Art Of Printing Secures Us Against The Retrogradation Of Reason And Information.

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

Never [enter] Into Dispute Or Argument With Another. I Never Yet Saw An Instance Of One Of Two Disputants Convincing The Other By Argument. I Have Seen Many On Their Getting Warm, Becoming Rude And Shooting One Another.

The Order Of Nature [is] That Individual Happiness Shall Be Inseparable From The Practice Of Virtue.

Individual Happiness

The Executive, In Our Government Is Not The Sole, It Is Scarcely The Principle, Object Of My Jealousy. The Tyranny Of The Legislature Is The Most Formidable Dread At Present And Will Be For Many Years. That Of The Executive Will Come In Its Turn, But It Will Be At A Remote Period.

The Happiest Moments My Heart Knows Are Those In Which It Is Pouring Forth Its Affections To A Few Esteemed Characters.

If Science Produces No Better Fruits Than Tyranny... I Would Rather Wish Our Country To Be Ignorant, Honest And Estimable As Our Neighbouring Savages Are.

A Mind Always Employed Is Always Happy.

Is It Less Dishonest To Do What Is Wrong Because It Is Not Expressly Prohibited By Written Law? Let Us Hope Our Moral Principles Are Not Yet In That Stage Of Degeneracy.

Wine Brightens The Life And Thinking Of Anyone

The Functionaries Of Every Government Have Propensities To Command At Will The Liberty And Property Of Their Constituents.

If There Be Any Among Us Who Wish To Dissolve The Union Or To Change Its Republican Form, Let Them Stand Undisturbed, As Monuments Of The Safety With Which Error Of Opinion May Be Tolerated Where Reason Is Left Free To Combat It.

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

Would It Not Be Better To Simplify The System Of Taxation Rather Than To Spread It Over Such A Variety Of Subjects And Pass Through So Many New Hands.

Though [the People] May Acquiesce, They Cannot Approve What They Do Not Understand.

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.

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.

Music...this Is The Favorite Passion Of My Soul.

The Governor Would Serve A Five-year Term And Be Ineligible For Reelection.

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.

If There Is One Principle More Deeply Rooted In The Mind Of Every American, It Is That We Should Have Nothing To Do With Conquest.

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

Of The Various Executive Abilities, No One Excited More Anxious Concern Than That Of Placing The Interests Of Our Fellow-citizens In The Hands Of Honest Men, With Understanding Sufficient For Their Stations. No Duty Is At The Same Time More Difficult To Fulfil. The Knowledge Of Character Possessed By A Single Individual Is Of Necessity Limited. To Seek Out The Best Through The Whole Union, We Must Resort To The Information Which From The Best Of Men, Acting Disinterestedly And With The Purest Motives, Is Sometimes Incorrect.

The Tree Of Liberty Must Be Refreshed From Time To Time With The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants.

An Informed Citizenry Is At The Heart Of A Dynamic Democracy.

Informed Citizenry

To Learn, You Have To Listen. To Improve, You Have To Try.

God Grant That Men Of Principle Shall Be Our Principal Men.

The Evils Which Of Necessity Encompass The Life Of Man Are Sufficiently Numerous. Why Should We Add To Them By Voluntarily Distressing And Destroying One Another? Peace, Brothers, Is Better Than War. In A Long And Bloody War, We Lose Many Friends, And Gain Nothing. Let Us Then Live In Peace And Friendship Together, Doing To Each Other All The Good We Can.

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

The History Of His Present Majesty, Is A History Of Unremitting Injuries And Usurpationsall Of Which Have In Direct Object The Establishment Of An Absolute Tyranny Over These States. To Prove This, Let Facts Be Submitted To A Candid World, For The Truth Of Which We Pledge A Faith Yet Unsullied By Falsehood.

Sir,-your Letter Of February The 18th Came To Hand On The 1st Instant; And The Request Of The History Of My Physical Habits Would Have Puzzled Me Not A Little, Had It Not Been For The Model With Which You Accompanied It, Of Doctor Rush's Answer To A Similar Inquiry. I Live So Much Like Other People, That I Might Refer To Ordinary Life As A History Of My Own. Like My Friend The Doctor, I Have Lived Temperately, Eating Very Little Animal Food, And That Not As An Aliment, So Much As A Condiment For The Vegetables, Which Constitute My Principle Diet.

Every Gentleman Plays Billiards, But Someone Who Plays Billiards Too Well, Is No Gentleman.

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

The Country Is Headed Toward A Single And Splendid Government Of An Aristocracy Founded On Banking Institutions And Moneyed Incorporations And If This Tendency Continues It Will Be The End Of Freedom And Democracy, The Few Will Be Ruling...i Hope We Shall...crush In Its Birth The Aristocracy Of Our Moneyed Corporations Which Dare Already To Challenge Our Government To Trial And Bid Defiance To The Laws Of Our Country. I Sincerely Believe That Banking Establishments Are More Dangerous Than Standing Armies.

It Can Never Be Too Often Repeated, That The Time For Fixing Every Essential Right On A Legal Basis Is While Our Rulers Are Honest, And Ourselves United.

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!

In The Legislature, The House Of Representatives Is Chosen By Less Than Half The People, And Not At All In Proportion To Those Who Do Choose. The Senate Are Still More Disproportionate, And For Long Terms Of Irresponsibility. In The Executive, The Governor Is Entirely Independent Of The Choice Of The People, And Of Their Control; His Council Equally So, And At Best But A Fifth Wheel To A Wagon. In The Judiciary, The Judges Of The Highest Courts Are Dependent On None But Themselves.

Every People May Establish What Form Of Government They Please, And Change It As They Please, The Will Of The Nation Being The Only Thing Essential.

The People Cannot Be All, And Always Well Informed. The Part Which Is Wrong Will Be Discontented In Proportion To The Importance Of The Facts They Misconceive.

Every Man Has A Commission To Admonish, Exhort, Convince Another Of Error.

The Selfish Spirit Of Commerce, Which Knows No Country, And Feels No Passion Or Principle But That Of Gain.

It Is Incumbent On Every Generation To Pay Its Own Debts As It Goes. A Principle Which If Acted On Would Save One-half The Wars Of The World.

Government Debt

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.

The Clergy ... Believe That Any Portion Of Power Confided To Me [as President] Will Be Exerted In Opposition To Their Schemes. And They Believe Rightly: For I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God, Eternal Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man. But This Is All They Have To Fear From Me: And Enough, Too, In Their Opinion.

No Man Will Ever Bring Out Of That Office The Reputation Which Carries Him Into It. The Honeymoon Would Be As Short In That Case As In Any Other, And Its Moments Of Ecstasy Would Be Ransomed By Years Of Torment And Hatred.

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.

I Had Rather Ask An Enlargement Of Power From The Nation, Where It Is Found Necessary, Than To Assume It By A Construction Which Would Make Our Powers Boundless.

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.

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.

I Cannot Live Without Books.

Walking Is The Best Possible Exercise. Habituate Yourself To Walk Very Far. The Europeans Value Themselves On Having Subdued The Horse To The Uses Of Man; But I Doubt Whether We Have Not Lost More Than We Have Gained, By The Use Of This Animal.

Let The Eye Of Vigilance Never Be Closed.

If I Could Not Go To Heaven But With A Party, I Would Not Go There At All.

Nothing Betrays Imbecility So Much As The Being Insensible Of It.

He Who Permits Himself To Tell A Lie Once, Finds It Much Easier To Do It A Second And Third Time, Till At Length It Becomes Habitual; He Tells Lies Without Attending To It, And Truths Without The World's Believing Him. This Falsehood Of The Tongue Leads To That Of The Heart, And In Time Depraves All Its Good Dispositions.

[i]n Great-britain It Is Said That Their Constitution Relies On The House Of Commons For Honesty, And The Lords For Wisdom; Whichwould Be A Rational Reliance If Honesty Were To Be Bought With Money, And If Wisdom Were Hereditary.

I, Place Economy Among The First & Most Important Republican Virtues, & Public Debt As The Greatest Of The Dangers To Be Feared

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

The Price Of Barbecue Is Eternal Vigilance.

The Most Valuable Of All Talents Is That Of Never Using Two Words When One Will Do.

We Have No Paupers ... The Great Mass Of Our [united States] Population Is Of Laborers; Our Rich, Who Can Live Without Labor, Either Manual Or Professional, Being Few, And Of Moderate Wealth. Most Of The Laboring Class Possess Property, Cultivate Their Own Lands, Have Families, And From The Demand For Their Labor Are Enabled To Exact From The Rich And The Competent Such Prices As Enable Them To Be Fed Abundantly, Clothed Above Mere Decency, To Labor Moderately And Raise Their Families. ... Can Any Condition Of Society Be More Desirable Than This?

Civil Officials Have No Business Meddling In Private Religious Affairs.

To Lay Taxes To Provide For The General Welfare Of The United States, That Is To Say, 'to Lay Taxes For The Purpose Of Providing For The General Welfare.' For The Laying Of Taxes Is The Power, And The General Welfare The Purpose For Which The Power Is To Be Exercised. They Are Not To Lay Taxes Ad Libitum For Any Purpose They Please; But Only To Pay The Debts Or Provide For The Welfare Of The Union.

I Find That He Is Happiest Of Whom The World Says Least, Good Or Bad.

Bad Relationship

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

On The Dogmas Of Religion, As Distinguished From Moral Principles, All Mankind, From The Beginning Of The World To This Day, Have Been Quarrelling, Fighting, Burning And Torturing One Another, For Abstractions Unintelligible To Themselves And To All Others, And Absolutely Beyond The Comprehension Of The Human Mind.

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.

It Is Not To Be Understood That I Am With Him (jesus Christ) In All His Doctrines. I Am A Materialist; He Takes The Side Of Spiritualism; He Preaches The Efficacy Of Repentance Toward Forgiveness Of Sin; I Require A Counterpoise Of Good Works To Redeem It.

In Europe The Object Is To Make The Most Of Their Land, Labour Being Abundant: Here It Is To Make The Most Of Our Labour, Land Being Abundant.

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

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.

Each Generation Has A Right To Choose For Itself The Form Of Government It Believes Most Promotive Of Its Happiness.

I Have Recently Been Examining All The Known Superstitions Of The World And Do Not Find In Our Particular Superstition [christianity] One Redeeming Feature.

An Informed Citizenry Is The Only True Repository Of The Public Will.

Informed Citizens

Informed Citizenry

An Hereditary Aristocracy... Will Change The Form Of Our Governments From The Best To The Worst In The World.

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.

May [our Declaration Of Independence] Be To The World, What I Believe It Will Be (to Some Parts Sooner, To Others Later, But Finally To All), The Signal Of Arousing Men To Burst The Chains Under Which Monkish Ignorance And Superstition Had Persuaded Them To Bind Themselves, And To Assume The Blessings And Security Of Self-government... All Eyes Are Opened, Or Opening, To The Rights Of Man.

No Instance Exists Of A Person's Writing Two Language Perfectly. That Will Always Appear To Be His Native Language Which Was Most Familiar To Him In His Youth.

Native Language

I Place Economy Among The First And Most Important Virtues And Public Debt As The Greatest Dangers To Be Feared. To Preserve Our Independence, We Must Not Let Our Rulers Load Us With Perpetual Debt. If We Run Into Such Debts, We Must Be Taxed In Our Meat And Drink, In Our Necessities And In Our 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.

Tranquility Is The Old Man's Milk.

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

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.

A True Patriot Will Defend His Country From Its Government.

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 Believe In Both A Creative And Personal God, A Divinely Ordered Universe, That Man Has An Innate Moral Sense, And That Jesus Was A Great Moral Teacher, Perhaps The Greatest The World Has Witnessed.

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.

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

All, Too, Will Bear In Mind This Sacred Principle, That Though The Will Of The Majority Is In All Cases To Prevail, That Will To Be Rightful Must Be Reasonable; That The Minority Possess Their Equal Rights, Which Equal Law Must Protect, And To Violate Would Be Oppression.

Paul Was The First Corrupter Of The Doctrines Of Jesus.

The Value Of Science To A Republican People, The Security It Gives To Liberty By Enlightening The Minds Of Its Citizens, The Protection It Affords Against Foreign Power, The Virtue It Inculcates, The Just Emulation Of The Distinction It Confers On Nations Foremost In It; In Short, Its Identification With Power, Morals, Order And Happiness (which Merits To It Premiums Of Encouragement Rather Than Repressive Taxes), Are Considerations [that Should] Always [be] Present And [bear] With Their Just Weight.

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?

Our Minds Were Circumscribed Within Narrow Limits By An Habitual Belief That It Was Our Duty To Be Subordinate To The Mother Country.

I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God.

All The States But Our Own Are Sensible That Knowlege Is Power.

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

To Preserve The Freedom Of The Human Mind Then And Freedom Of The Press, Every Spirit Should Be Ready To Devote Itself To Martyrdom; For As Long As We May Think As We Will, And Speak As We Think, The Condition Of Man Will Proceed In Improvement

I Have Never Been Able To Conceive How Any Rational Being Could Propose Happiness To Himself From The Exercise Of Power Over Others.

So Inscrutable Is The Arrangement Of Causes And Consequences In This World, That A Two-penny Duty On Tea, Unjustly Imposed In A Sequestered Part Of It, Changes The Condition Of All Its Inhabitants.

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.

Experience Has Taught Me That Manufacturers Are Now As Necessary To Our Independence As To Our Comfort.

The Boys Of The Rising Generation Are To Be The Men Of The Next, And The Sole Guardians Of The Principles We Deliver Over To Them.

From Forty Years' Experience Of The Wretched Guess-work Of The Newspapers Of What Is Not Done In Open Daylight, And Of Their Falsehood Even As To That, I Rarely Think Them Worth Reading, And Almost Never Worth Notice.

If We Are Made In Some Degree For Others, Yet In A Greater Are We Made For Ourselves.

In A World Which Furnishes So Many Employments Which Are Useful, And So Many Which Are Amusing, It Is Our Own Fault If We Ever Know What Ennui [boredom] Is, Or If We Are Ever Driven To The Miserable Resource Of Gaming, Which Corrupts Our Dispositions, And Teaches Us A Habit Of Hostility Against All Mankind.

Wake Up, Dream, Have The Ambition To Do The Things You Have Always Dreamed Of, Go Farther Than Any Man Has Ever Been Before, Go As Far As It Is Possible For Any Man To Go, What Have You Got To Lose? Nothing Can Stop The Man With The Right Mental Attitude From Achieving His Goal; Nothing On Earth Can Help The Man With The Wrong Mental Attitude.

I Set Out On This Ground, Which I Suppose To Be Self Evident, "that The Earth Belongs In Usufruct To The Living": That The Dead Have Neither Powers Nor Rights Over It.

If The Freedom Of Religion, Guaranteed To Us By Law In Theory, Can Ever Rise In Practice Under The Overbearing Inquisition Of Public Opinion, [then And Only Then Will Truth]prevail Over Fanaticism.

Let Our Countrymen Know That The People Alone Can Protect Us Against These Evils Of Misgovernment.

If Ever There Was A Holy War, It Was That Which Saved Our Liberties And Gave Us Independence.

Those Who Live By Mystery & Charlatanerie, Fearing You Would Render Them Useless By Simplifying The Christian Philosophy - The Most Sublime And Benevolent, But Most Perverted System That Ever Shone On Man - Endeavored To Crush Your Well-earned & Well-deserved Fame.

The Federal Government Is Our Servant, Not Our Master.

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.

Religions Are All Alike- Founded Upon Fables And Mythologies.

Secular Society

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 People Cannot Be All, And Always, Well Informed. The Part Which Is Wrong Will Be Discontented, In Proportion To The Importance Of The Facts They Misconceive. If They Remain Quiet Under Such Misconceptions, It Is Lethargy, The Forerunner Of Death To The Public Liberty. And What Country Can Preserve Its Liberties, If Its Rulers Are Not Warned From Time To Time, That This People Preserve The Spirit Of Resistance? Let Them Take Arms.

If The Obstacles Of Bigotry And Priestcraft Can Be Surmounted, We May Hope That Common Sense Will Suffice To Do Everything Else.

The True Foundation Of Republican Government Is The Equal Right Of Every Citizen In His Person And Property And In Their Management.

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.

All Power Is Inherent In The People.

I Am An Epicurean. I Consider The Genuine (not The Imputed) Doctrines Of Epicurus As Containing Everything Rational In Moral Philosophy Which Greece And Rome Have Left Us.

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 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.

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.

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

I Suppose, Indeed, That In Public Life, A Man Whose Political Principles Have Any Decided Character And Who Has Energy Enough To Give Them Effect Must Always Expect To Encounter Political Hostility From Those Of Adverse Principles.

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.

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.

Victory And Defeat Are Each Of The Same Price.

Victory And Defeat

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