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

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

Understanding the Quote: "defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought..."

This quote by Thomas Jefferson reflects deeply on the theme of fashion. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Fashion, People, Liberty, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Thomas Jefferson interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is celebrated for insightful thoughts on fashion and people. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Fashion
People
Liberty
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Anarchy [is] Necessarily Consequent To Inefficiency.
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Anarchy
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Sensibility Of Mind Is Indeed The Parent Of Every Virtue, But It Is The Parent Of Much Misery, Too.
Parent
Mind
Misery
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.
Law
People
Judging
Self-interest, Or Rather Self-love, Or Egoism, Has Been More Plausibly Substituted As The Basis Of Morality.
Self
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The Public School System: "usually A Twelve Year Sentence Of Mind Control. Crushing Creativity, Smashing Individualism, Encouraging Collectivism And Compromise, Destroying The Exercise Of Intellectual Inquiry, Twisting It Instead Into Meek Subservience To Authority." - Walter Karp, Editor Harper's Magazine 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.
Crush
Creativity
School
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.
Writing
Rights
People
No Stile Of Writing Is So Delightful As That Which Is All Pith, Which Never Omits A Necessary Word, Nor Uses An Unnecessary One.
Writing
Use
Unnecessary
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.
Independent
Simple
Government
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident: That All Men Are Created Equal; That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Unalienable Rights; That Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.
Life
Change
Happiness
The Difficulty Is No Longer To Find Candidates For The Offices, But Offices For The Candidates.
Office
Bureaucracy
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Ours Are The Only Farmers Who Can Read Homer
Educational
Farmers
The Best Hemp And The Best Tobacco Grow On The Same Kind Of Soil. The Former Article Is Of The First Necessity To The Wealth And Protection Of The Country. The Latter, Never Useful.
Country
Kindness
Vegetables
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.
Wisdom
Country
Thinking
Your Own Reason Is The Only Oracle Given To You By God.
Grace
Oracles
Reason
I Had Always Hoped That The Younger Generation Receiving Their Early Impressions After The Flame Of Liberty Had Been Kindled In Every Breast . . . Would Have Sympathized With Oppression Wherever Found, And Proved Their Love Of Liberty Beyond Their Own Share Of It.
Flames
Liberty
Receiving
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.
Ambition
Law
Community
I Deny The Power Of The General Government To Making Paper Money, Or Anything Else A Legal Tender.
Government
Paper
Deny
I Am A Real Christian, That Is To Say, A Cisciple Of The Doctrines Of Jesus. I Have Little Doubt That Our Whole Country Will Soon Be Rallied To The Unity Of Our Creator.
Christian
Country
Jesus
Let The Eye Of Vigilance Never Be Closed.
Eye
Vigilance
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.
Army
Omission
Rights
In America, No Other Distinction Between Man And Man Had Ever Been Known But That Of Persons In Office Exercising Powers By Authority Of The Laws, And Private Individuals. Among These Last, The Poorest Laborer Stood On Equal Ground With The Wealthiest Millionaire, And Generally On A More Favored One Whenever Their Rights Seem To Jar.
Exercise
Men
Rights
Only A Government That Is Afraid Of Its Citizens Tries To Control Them.
Government
Trying
Citizens
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.
Kings
Desire
May
If The Game Runs Sometimes Against Us At Home We Must Have Patience Till Luck Turns, And Then We Shall Have An Opportunity Of Winning Back The Principles We Have Lost, For This Is A Game Where Principles Are At Stake.
Running
Home
Winning
Your Sect [the Jews] By Its Sufferings Has Furnished A Remarkable Proof Of The Universal Point Of Religious Insolence, Inherent In Every Sect, Disclaimed By All While Feeble And Practised By All When In Power. Our Laws Have Applied The Only Antidote To This Vice, Protecting Our Religions, As They Do Our Civil Rights, By Putting All On Equal Footing. But More Remains To Be Done.
Religious
Rights
Law
There Is Nothing More Unequal Than The Equal Treatment Of Unequal People.
Education
Equal Treatment
People
Students Of Reading, Writing And Common Arithmetick . . . Graecian [greek], Roman, English And American History . . . Should Be Rendered . . . Worthy To Receive, And Able To Guard The Sacred Deposit Of The Rights And Liberties Of Their Fellow Citizens.
Education
Reading
Writing
The Persons And Property Of Our Citizens Are Entitled To The Protection Of Our Government In All Places Where They May Lawfully Go.
Government
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May
He Wove Those Three Threads Into A Talk Ranging From Annually Spending A Week At Halloween As A Child Collecting Candy To Giving Candy To Hundreds Of Children At Halloween As An Adult; From Childhood Assistance He Received From Adults, Particularly After His Parents Divorced, To Saying I Challenge You To Be A Caring Adult In Someone's Life ... Great Times Call Forth Great Leaders.
Children
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When An Instrument Admits Two Constructions, The One Safe, The Other Dangerous, The One Precise, The Other Indefinite, I Prefer That Which Is Safe And Precise.
Two
Safe
Construction
We Generally Learn Languages For The Benefit Of Reading The Books Written In Them
Book
Reading
Benefits
The Law Of Self-preservation Is Higher Than Written Law.
Self
Law
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From The Circumstances Of My Position, I Was Often Thrown Into The Society Of Horse-racers, Card-players, Fox-hunters, Scientific And Professional Men, And Of Dignified Men; And Many A Time Have I Asked Myself, In The Enthusiastic Moment Of The Death Of A Fox, The Victory Of A Favorite Horse, The Issue Of A Question Eloquently Argued At The Bar, Or In The Great Council Of The Nation, Well, Which Of These Kinds Of Reputation Should I Prefer? That Of A Horse-jockey, A Fox-hunter, An Orator, Or The Honest Advocate Of My Country's Rights?
Country
Horse
Player
Education Is Here Placed Among The Articles Of Public Care, Not That It Would Be Proposed To Take Its Ordinary Branches Out Of The Hands Of Private Enterprise, Which Manages So Much Better All The Concerns To Which It Is Equal, But A Public Institution Can Alone Supply Those Sciences Which, Though Rarely Called For, Are Yet Necessary To Complete The Circle, All The Parts Of Which Contribute To The Improvement Of The Country, And Some Of Them To Its Preservation.
Education
Country
Hands
When The Course Of Events Shall Have Removed You To Distant Scenes Of Action Where Laurels Not Nurtured With The Blood Of My Country May Be Gathered, I Shall Urge Sincere Prayers For Your Obtaining Every Honor And Preferment Which May Gladden The Heart Of A Soldier.
Country
Prayer
Heart
To Make Us One Nation As To Foreign Concerns, And Keep Us Distinct In Domestic Ones Gives The Outline Of The Proper Division Of Powers Between The General [national] And Particular [state] Governments.
4th Of July
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Giving
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.
Heart
Government
Law
The Natural Progress Of Things Is For Liberty To Yield And Government To Gain Ground.
Freedom
4th Of July
Yield
Hemp Is Of First Necessity To The Wealth & Protection Of The Country.
Weed
Country
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The Ocean ... Like The Air, Is The Common Birth-right Of Mankind.
Ocean
Science
Air
In Matters Of Religion, I Have Considered That Its Free Exercise Is Placed By The Constitution Independent Of The Powers Of The General Government. I Have Therefore Undertaken On No Occasion To Prescribe The Religious Exercises Suited To It; But Have Left Them As The Constitution Found Them, Under The Direction And Discipline Of State Or Church Authorities Acknowledged By The Several Religious Societies.
Religious
Independent
Exercise
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.
Peace
Brother
War
I Like A Little Rebellion Now And Then. It Is Like A Storm In The Atmosphere.
Atmosphere
Storm
Littles
The Dead Should Not Rule The Living
Should
Reading, Reflection And Time Have Convinced Me That The Interests Of Society Require The Observation Of Those Moral Precepts Only In Which All Religions Agree (for All Forbid Us To Steal, Murder, Plunder, Or Bear False Witness), And That We Should Not Intermeddle With The Particular Dogmas In Which All Religions Differ, And Which Are Totally Unconnected With Morality.
Reading
Reflection
Bears
Do Not Neglect Your Music. It Will Be A Companion Which Will Sweeten Many Hours Of Life To You.
Music
Hours
Neglect
Laws That Forbid The Carrying Of Arms . . . Disarm Only Those Who Are Neither Inclined Nor Determined To Commit Crimes . . . Such Laws Make Things Worse For The Assaulted And Better For The Assailants; They Serve Rather To Encourage Than To Prevent Homicides, For An Unarmed Man May Be Attacked With Greater Confidence Than An Armed Man.
Men
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Law
One War, Such As That Of Our Revolution, Is Enough For One Life.
Peace
War
Revolution
When, In The Course Of Human Events, It Becomes Necessary For One People To Dissolve The Political Bands Which Have Connected Them With Another, And To Assume Among The Powers Of The Earth The Separate And Equal Station To Which The Laws Of Nature And Of Nature's God Entitle Them, A Decent Respect To The Opinions Of Mankind Requires That They Should Declare The Causes Which Impel Them To The Separation.
Respect
Nature
Law
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.
Rights
Law
Together
The Advocate Of Religious Freedom Is To Expect Neither Peace Nor Forgiveness From [the Clergy].
Religious
Christianity
Clergy
A Well Informed Citizenry Is The Best Defense Against Tyranny.
Defense
Tyranny
Wells
It Is A Melancholy Truth, That A Suppression Of The Press Could Not More Completely Deprive The Nation Of Its Benefits Than Is Done By Its Abandoned Prostitution To Falsehood.
Done
Benefits
Melancholy
No Nation Was Ever Drunk When Wine Was Cheap.
Wine
Drunk
Politics
The Second Office In The Government Is Honorable And Easy; The First Is But A Splendid Misery.
Government
Office
Political
Mankind Are More Disposed To Suffer, While Evils Are Sufferable, Than To Right Themselves By Abolishing The Forms To Which They Are Accustomed.
Evil
Suffering
Unalienable Rights
We Did Not Raise Armies For Glory Or For Conquest.
Peace
War
Army
Do Not Bite At The Bait Of Pleasure, Till You Know There Is No Hook Beneath It.
Motivational
Truth
Freedom
Our Attachment To No Nation On Earth Should Supplant Our Attachment To Liberty.
Attachment
Liberty
Earth
Ministers And Merchants Love Nobody.
Ministers
Merchants
[we Should Be] Determined... To Sever Ourselves From The Union We So Much Value Rather Than Give Up The Rights Of Self-government... In Which Alone We See Liberty, Safety And Happiness.
Giving Up
Rights
Government
But Every Difference Of Opinion Is Not A Difference Of Principle.
Differences
Principles
Politics
The Suppression Of Unnecessary Offices, Of Useless Establishments And Expenses Enabled Us To Discontinue Our Internal Taxes. These Covering Our Land With Officers, And Opening Our Doors To Their Intrusions, Had Already Begun That Process Of Domiciliary Vexation Which, Once Entered, Is Scarcely To Be Restrained From Reaching Successively Every Article Of Produce And Property.
Doors
Land
Office
It Should Be Our Endeavor To Cultivate The Peace And Friendship Of Every Nation . . . . Our Interest Will Be To Throw Open The Doors Of Commerce, And To Knock Off All Its Shackles, Giving Perfect Freedom To All Persons For The Vent To Whatever They May Choose To Bring Into Our Ports, And Asking The Same In Theirs.
Doors
Giving
Perfect
If Our Country, When Pressed With Wrongs At The Point Of The Bayonet, Had Been Governed By Its Heads Instead Of Its Hearts, Where Should We Have Been Now? Hanging On A Gallows As High As Haman's.
Wisdom
Country
Heart
If The Happiness Of The Mass Of Mankind 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.
Blood
Littles
Tempest
No One Has A Right To Obstruct Another Exercising His Faculties Innocently For The Relief Of Sensibilities Made A Part Of His Nature.
Exercise
Relief
Made
I Have Examined All Of The Known Superstitions Of The World And I Do Not Find Our Superstitions Of Christianity One Redeeming Feature. They Are All Founded On Fables And Mythology. Christianity Has Made One-half Of The World Fools And The Other Half Hypocrites
Death
Hypocrite
Half
And Botany I Rank With The Most Valuable Sciences, Whether We Consider Its Subjects As Furnishing The Principal Subsistence Of Life To Man And Beast, Delicious Varieties For Our Tables, Refreshments From Our Orchards, The Adornments Of Our Flower-borders, Shade And Perfume Of Our Groves, Materials For Our Buildings, Or Medicaments For Our Bodies.
Flower
Men
Body
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.
Ambition
Sleep
Men
[a] Spirit Of Justice And Friendly Accomodation...is Our Duty And Our Interest To Cultivate With All Nations.
Justice
Friendly
Spirit
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.
Daughter
Men
Land
Do Not Be Too Severe Upon The Errors Of The People, But Reclaim Them By Enlightening Them.
Errors
People
Revolution
But Under The Beaming, Constant And Almost Vertical Sun Of Virginia, Shade Is Our Elysium. In The Absence Of This No Beauty Of The Eye Can Be Enjoyed.
Beauty
Eye
Virginia
The Religion-builders Have So Distorted And Deformed The Doctrines Of Jesus, So Muffled Them In Mysticism, Fancies, And Falsehoods.
Jesus
Fancy
Doctrine
By Nature's Law, Every Man Has A Right To Seize And Retake By Force His Own Property Taken From Him By Another, By Force Of Fraud. Nor Is This Natural Right Among The First Which Is Taken Into The Hands Of Regular Government After It Is Instituted. It Was Long Retained By Our Ancestors. It Was A Part Of Their Common Law, Laid Down In Their Books, Recognized By All The Authorities, And Regulated As To Circumstances Of Practice.
Book
Taken
Men
Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing.
Courage
Patriotic
Men
It Is Important To Strengthen The State Governments; And As This Cannot Be Done By Any Change In The Federal Constitution (for The Preservation Of That Is All We Need Contend For), It Must Be Done By The States Themselves, Erecting Such Barriers At The Constitutional Line As Cannot Be Surmounted Either By Themselves Or By The General Government. The Only Barrier In Their Power Is A Wise Government. A Weak One Will Lose Ground In Every Contest.
Wise
Government
Important
No Occupation Is So Delightful To Me As The Culture Of The Earth, And No Culture Comparable To That Of The Garden.
Garden
Culture
Earth
Nothing Is More Certainly Written In The Book Of Fate Than That These People Are To Be Free.
Book
Fate
People
Honesty And Interest Are As Intimately Connected In The Public As In The Private Code Of Morality.
Honesty
Morality
Interest
The Reward Of Esteem, Respect And Gratitude [is] Due To Those Who Devote Their Time And Efforts To Render The Youths Of Every Successive Age Fit Governors For The Next.
Gratitude
Effort
Age
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.
Country
Heart
Thinking
Free Men Do Not Ask Permission To Bear Arms
Men
Arms
Libertarian
A Government Held Together By The Bands Of Reason Only, Requires Much Compromise Of Opinion.
Government
Together
Band
Our Business Is To Have Great Credit And To Use It Little.
Use
Credit
Littles
We Could In The United States Make As Great A Variety Of Wines As Are Made In Europe, Not Exactly Of The Same Kinds, But Doubtless As Good.
Wine
Europe
United States
Besides The Comfort Of Knowlege, Every Science Is Auxiliary To Every Other.
Educational
Comfort
If I Am To Meet With A Disappointment, The Sooner I Know It, The More Of Life I Shall Have To Wear It Off.
Disappointment
Disappointing
Knows
It Behooves Every Man Who Values Liberty Of Conscience For Himself, To Resist Invasions Of It In The Case Of Others: Or Their Case May, By Change Of Circumstances, Become His Own.
Freedom
Men
Liberty
[f]alsehood Of The Tongue Leads To That Of The Heart, And In Time Depraves All Its Good Dispositions.
Heart
President
Tongue
I Was Bold In The Pursuit Of Knowledge, Never Fearing To Follow Truth And Reason To Whatever Results They Led, And Bearding Every Authority Which Stood In Their Way.
Truth
Knowledge
Politics
If You Have To Eat Crow, Eat It While It's Young And Tender.
Motivational
Wisdom
Crow
If Ever This Vast Country Is Brought Under A Single Government, It Will Be One Of The Most Extensive Corruption, Indifferent And Incapable Of A Wholesome Care Over So Wide A Spread Of Surface. This Will Not Be Borne, And You Will Have To Choose Between Reform And Revolution. If I Know The Spirit Of This Country, The One Or The Other Is Inevitable.
Country
Government
Reform
Dispositions Of The Mind, Like Limbs Of The Body, Acquire Strength By Exercise.
Exercise
Mind
Body
The Evils Of War Are Great In Their Endurance, And Have A Long Reckoning For Ages To Come.
War
Long
Evil
I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God Eternal, Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man.
Change
Religious
Men
Religions Are All The Same...based Upon Legends And Fantasies
Legends
Fantasy
I Prefer The Tumult Of Liberty To The Quiet Of Servitude
Liberty
Quiet
Capitalism
Games Played With The Ball, And Others Of That Nature, Are Too Violent For The Body And Stamp No Character On The Mind.
Character
Gun
Games
Yet The Hour Of Emancipation Is Advancing ... This Enterprise Is For The Young; For Those Who Can Follow It Up, And Bear It Through To It's Consummation. It Shall Have All My Prayers, And These Are The Only Weapons Of An Old Man.
Prayer
Men
President
Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God; Because, If There Be One, He Must More Approve Of The Homage Of Reason, Than That Of Blind-folded Fear.
Religious
Atheist
Fear
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.
Peace
War
Blessing
There Is... An Artificial Aristocracy Founded On Wealth And Birth, Without Either Virtue Or Talents... The Artificial Aristocracy Is A Mischievous Ingredient In Government, And Provision Should Be Made To Prevent Its Ascendency.
Government
Aristocracy
Ingredients
Were I To Commence My Administration Again, The First Question I Would Ask Respecting A Candidate Would Be, Does He Use Ardent Spirits?
Doe
Would Be
Use
I Like The Power Given The Legislature To Levy Taxes, And For That Reason Solely Approve Of The Greater House Being Chosen By The People Directly.
People
House
Reason
Take Painsto Write A Neat Round, Plain Hand, And You Will Find It A Great Convenience Through Life To Write A Small And Compact Hand As Well As A Fair And Legible One.
Writing
Hands
Convenience
The Qualifications For Self-government In Society Are Not Innate. They Are The Result Of Habit And Long Training.
Educational
Government
Self
What Has Been The Effect Of [religious] Coercion? To Make One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites. To Support Roguery And Error All Over The Earth.
Religious
Hypocrite
Errors
I Have Never Been Able To Conceive How Any Rational Being Could Propose Happiness To Himself From The Exercise Of Power Over Others.
Humility
Exercise
Power
In Every Government On Earth Is Some Trace Of Human Weakness, Some Germ Of Corruption And Degeneracy, Which Cunning Will Discover, And Wickedness Insensibly Open, Cultivate And Improve.
Government
Weakness
Wickedness
The Tender Breasts Of Ladies Were Not Formed For Political Convulsion.
Political
Breasts
The Greatest Good We Can Do Our Country Is To Heal Its Party Divisions And Make Them One People.
Country
Party
People
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.
Life
Friendship
Happiness
When We See Ourselves In A Situation Which Must Be Endured And Gone Through, It Is Best To Make Up Our Minds To It, Meet It With Firmness, And Accommodate Everything To It In The Best Way Practicable. This Lessens The Evil; While Fretting And Fuming Only Serves To Increase Your Own Torments.
Perseverance
Evil
Mind
Above All Things I Hope The Education Of The Common People Will Be Attended To; Convinced That On Their Good Sense We May Rely With Most Security For The Preservation Of A Due Degree Of Liberty.
Thank You
Education
Teacher
I Have Indeed Two Great Measures At Heart, Without Which No Republic Can Maintain Itself In Strength: 1. That Of General Education, To Enable Every Man To Judge For Himself What Will Secure Or Endanger His Freedom. 2. To Divide Every County Into Hundreds, Of Such Size That All The Children Of Each Will Be Within Reach Of A Central School In It.
Children
Heart
School
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.
Men
Interesting
Freedom Of Speech
Were I To Be The Founder Of A New Sect, I Would Call Them Apiarians, And, After The Example Of The Bee, Advise Them To Extract The Honey Of Every Sect. My Fundamental Principle Would Be ... That We Are To Be Saved By Our Good Works Which Are Within Our Power, And Not By Our Faith Which Is Not Within Our Power.
Principles
Example
Would Be
[all Religious Sects] Dread The Advance Of Science As Witches Do The Approach Of Daylight; And Scowl On The Fatal Harbinger Announcing The Subversion Of The Duperies In Which They Live.
Religious
Faith Religion
Daylight
A Strict Observance Of The Written Laws Is Doubtless One Of The Highest Virtues Of A Good Citizen, But It Is Not The Highest. The Laws Of Necessity, Of Self-preservation, Of Saving Our Country When In Danger, Are Of Higher Obligation. To Lose Our Country By A Scrupulous Adherence To Written Law Would Be To Lose The Law Itself, With Life, Liberty, Property And All Those Who Are Enjoying Them With Us; Thus Absurdly Sacrificing The End To The Means.
Country
Freedom
Mean
Whensoever The General Government Assumes Undelegated Powers, Its Acts Are Unauthoritative, Void, And Of No Force.
Government
Liberty
Void
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.
Doubt
May
Trouble
The Best Commentary On The Principles Of Government Which Has Ever Been Written.
Government
Principles
Commentary
With All The Imperfections Of Our Present Government, It Is Without Comparison The Best Existing, Or That Ever Did Exist.
Government
Imperfection
Comparison
[o]ur Rules Can Have Authority Over Such Natural Rights Only As We Have Submitted To Them. The Rights Of Conscience We Never Submitted, We Could Not Submit. We Are Answerable For Them To Our God.
Rights
Religion
Natural
Nothing Is More Incumbent On The Old Than To Know When They Should Get Out Of The Way And Relinquish To Younger Successors The Honors They Can No Longer Earn, And The Duties They Can No Longer Perform.
Honor
Way
Should
Truth Can Stand By Itself...if There Be But One Right [religion], And [christianity] That One, We Should Wish To See The Nine Hundred And Ninety-nine Wandering Sects Gathered Into The Fold Of Truth.
Ninety Nine
Wish
Christianity
My Principle Is To Do Whatever Is Right, And Leave Consequences To Him Who Has The Disposal Of Them.
Principles
Consequence
A First Attempt To Recover The Right Of Self Government May Fail, So May A Second, A Third, Etc. But As A Younger And More Instructed Race Comes On, The Sentiment Becomes More And More Intuitive, And A Fourth, A Fifth, Or Some Subsequent One Of The Ever Renewed Attempts Will Ultimately Succeed... To Attain All This, However, Rivers Of Blood Must Yet Flow, And Years Of Desolation Pass Over; Yet The Object Is Worth Rivers Of Blood And Years Of Desolation. For What Inheritance So Valuable Can Man Leave To His Posterity?
Men
Race
Self
The Care Of Human Life And Happiness, And Not Their Destruction, Is The First And Only Object Of Good Government.
Happiness
Government
Political
Nothing But Free Argument, Raillery And Even Ridicule Will Preserve The Purity Of Religion.
Atheism
Argument
Purity
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.
Country
Believe
Law
I Am Sorry They Began Their Deliberations By So Abominable A Precedent As That Of Tying Up The Tongues Of Their Members. Nothing Can Justify This Example But The Innocence Of Their Intentions And Ignorance Of The Value Of Public Discussions. I Have No Doubt That All Their Other Measures Will Be Good And Wise. It Is Really An Assembly Of Demigods.
Wise
Sorry
Ignorance
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.
Pain
Pride
Evil
Of Publishing A Book On Religion, My Dear Sir, I Never Had An Idea. I Should As Soon Think Of Writing For The Reformation Of Bedlam, As Of The World Of Religious Sects. Of These There Must Be, At Least, Ten Thousand, Every Individual Of Every One Of Which Believes All Wrong But His Own.
Religious
Book
Believe
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.
Religious
Men
Justice Of God
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.
Roots
People
Growth
The Whole Body Of The Nation Is The Sovereign Legislative, Judiciary, And Executive Power For Itself. The Inconvenience Of Meeting To Exercise These Powers In Person, And Their Inaptitude To Exercise Them, Induce Them To Appoint Special Organs To Declare Their Legislative Will, To Judge And To Execute It. It Is The Will Of The Nation Which Makes The Law Obligatory.
Exercise
Law
Judging
Sometimes It Is Said That Man Cannot Be Trusted With The Government Of Himself. Can He, Then Be Trusted With The Government Of Others? Or Have We Found Angels In The Form Of Kings To Govern Him? Let History Answer This Question.
Trust
Kings
Angel
There Are Other Places At Which ... The Laws Have Said There Shall Be Towns; But Nature Has Said There Shall Not, And They Remain Unworthy Of Enumeration.
Law
Towns
Said
I Am Satisfied, And Sufficiently Occupied With The Things Which Are, Without Tormenting Or Troubling Myself About Those Which May Indeed Be, But Of Which I Have No Evidence.
Religion
May
Evidence
Drawing ... Is An Innocent & Engaging Amusement, Often Useful, And A Qualification Not To Be Neglected In One Who Is To Become A Mother & An Instructor.
Mother
Educational
Drawing
While Wading Through The Whimsies, The Puerilities, And Unintelligible Jargon Of This Work [plato's Republic], I Laid It Down Often To Ask Myself How It Could Have Been That The World Should Have So Long Consented To Give Reputation To Such Nonsense As This?
Plato
Philosophy
Science
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.
Country
Freedom
People
Never Use Two Words When One Will Do.
Two
Use
The Chief Purpose Of Government Is To Protect Life. Abandon That And You Have Abandoned All.
Government
Purpose
Abandoned
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.
Men
Years
Office
Establish The Eternal Truth That Acquiescence Under Insult Is Not The Way To Escape War.
Military
War
Acquiescence
The Policy Of The American Government Is To Leave Their Citizens Free, Neither Restraining Nor Aiding Them In Their Pursuits.
4th Of July
Government
Liberty
It Is More Dangerous That Even A Guilty Person Should Be Punished Without The Forms Of Law Than That He Should Escape.
Law
Guilt
President
All Things Here Appear To Me To Trudge On In One And The Same Round: We Rise In The Morning That We May Eat Breakfast, Dinner Andsupper And To Bed Again That We May Get Up The Next Morning And Do The Same: So That You Never Saw Two Peas More Alike Than Our Yesterday And To-day.
Morning
Two
Yesterday
On A Hot Day In Virginia, I Know Nothing More Comforting Than A Fine Spiced Pickle, Brought Up Trout-like From The Sparkling Depths Of The Aromatic Jar Below The Stairs Of Aunt Sally's Cellar.
Food
Aunt
Virginia
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.
Death
Dying
Amusement
Most Men Die At Age 25, But Aren't Buried Until 70.
Men
Age
Buried
The Christian Priesthood, Finding The Doctrines Of Christ Leveled To Every Understanding, And Too Plain To Need Explanation, Saw, In The Mysticism Of Plato, Materials With Which They Might Build Up An Artificial System Which Might, From It's Indistinctness, Admit Everlasting Controversy, Give Employment For Their Order, And Introduce It To Profit, Power And Pre-eminence.
Christian
Plato
Order
Every Man Is Under The Natural Duty Of Contributing To The Necessities Of The Society; And This Is All The Laws Should Enforce On Him.
Men
Law
Civil Rights
I Have Now The Gloomy Prospect Of Retiring From Office Loaded With Serious Debts, Which Will Materially Affect The Tranquility Of My Retirement.
Retirement
Office
Debt
The Constitutions Of Most Of Our States Assert, That All Power Is Inherent In The People; That They May Exercise It By Themselves, In All Cases To Which They Think Themselves Competent, Or They May Act By Representatives, Freely And Equally Chosen; That It Is Their Right And Duty To Be At All Times Armed; That They Are Entitled To Freedom Of Person, Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of Property, And Freedom Of The Press.
Exercise
Gun
Strong Arms
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.
World
Majesty
Facts
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.
Country
Religious
Atheist
To Instruct The Mass Of Our Citizens In These, Their Rights, Interests And Duties, As Men And Citizens...this Brings Us To The Point At Which Are To Commence The Higher Branches Of Education . . . . To Develop The Reasoning Faculties Of Our Youth, Enlarge Their Minds, Cultivate Their Morals, And Instill Into Them The Precepts Of Virtue And Order.
Education
Men
Rights
Aristocrats Fear The People, And Wish To Transfer All Power To The Higher Classes Of Society.
Class
People
Wish
Resolved ... That It Would Be A Dangerous Delusion Were A Confidence In The Men Of Our Choice To Silence Our Fears For The Safety Of Our Rights: That Confidence Is Everywhere The Parent Of Despotism - Free Government Is Founded In Jealousy, And Not In Confidence.
Men
Rights
Safety
Truth Will Do Well Enough If Left To Shift For Herself. She Seldom Has Received Much Aid From The Power Of Great Men To Whom She Is Rarely Known And Seldom Welcome. She Has No Need Of Force To Procure Entrance Into The Minds Of Men.
Men
Mind
Needs
There Is No Act, However Virtuous, For Which Ingenuity May Not Find Some Bad Motive.
President
May
Motive
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.
Men
Long
Should
Without Health There Is No Happiness. An Attention To Health, Then, Should Take The Place Of Every Other Object.
Attention
Should
Objects
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.
Father
Eggs
Broken
Never Fear The Want Of Business. A Man Who Qualifies Himself Well For His Calling, Never Fails Of Employment.
Motivational
Men
Liberty
The Selfish Spirit Of Commerce, Which Knows No Country, And Feels No Passion Or Principle But That Of Gain.
Country
Business
Selfish
No Freeman Shall Be Debarred The Use Of Arms.
Second Amendment
Use
Arms
France, Freed From That Monster, Bonaparte, Must Again Become The Most Agreeable Country On Earth. It Would Be The Second Choice Of All Whose Ties Of Family And Fortune Give A Preference To Some Other One, And The First Choice Of All Not Under Those Ties.
Country
Ties
Giving
I Hold The Precepts Of Jesus As Delivered By Himself, To Be The Most Pure, Benevolent And Sublime Which Have Ever Been Preached To Man.
Inspirational
Jesus
Men
One Of My Favorite Ideas Is, Never To Keep An Unnecessary Soldier.
Ideas
Soldier
Unnecessary
Governments Constantly Choose Between Telling Lies And Fighting Wars, With The End Result Always Being The Same. One Will Always Lead To The Other.
Peace
War
Lying
Men As Well As Rivers Grow Crooked By Following The Path Of Least Resistance.
Men
Rivers
Path
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.
Law
Giving
Arbitrary
It Is Surely Time For Men To Think For Themselves, And To Throw Off The Authority Of Names So Artificially Magnified.
Men
Thinking
Names
Everything Yields To Diligence.
Work
Yield
Motivational Work
In Our Richmond There Is Much Fanaticism, But Chiefly Among The Women. They Have Their Night Meetings And Prayer Parties, Where, Attended By Their Priests, And Sometimes By A Hen-pecked Husband, They Pour Forth The Effusions Of Their Love To Jesus, In Terms As Amatory And Carnal, As Their Modesty Would Permit Them To Use A Mere Earthly Lover.
Jesus
Prayer
Husband
It Is True That In The Meantime We Are Suffering Deeply In Spirit, And Incurring The Horrors Of A War And Long Oppressions Of Enormous Public Debt.
War
Long
Suffering
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.
Peace
War
Believe
All Power Is Inherent In The People.
Gun
Strong Arms
People
The Art Of Life Is The Art Of Avoiding Pain; And He Is The Best Pilot, Who Steers Clearest Of The Rocks And Shoals With Which It Is Beset.
Art
Pain
Rocks
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.
War
Great Men
Preference
Single Acts Of Tyranny May Be Ascribed To The Accidental Opinion Of The Day; But A Series Of Oppressions, Begun At A Distinguished Period, And Pursued Unalterably Through Every Change Of Ministers (adminstrators) Too Plainly Proves A Deliberate, Systematic Plan Of Reducing Us To Slavery.
Government
Liberty
Slavery
There Are Two Amendments Only Which I Am Anxious For: 1. A Bill Of Rights, Which It Is So Much The Interest Of All To Have That I Conceive It Must Be Yielded...2. The Restoring Of The Principle Of Necessary Rotation, Particularly To The Senate And Presidency, But Most Of All To The Last.
Rights
Two
Principles
I Was Dupedby The Secretary Of The Treasury [alexander Hamilton], And Made A Fool For Forwarding His Schemes, Not Then Sufficiently Understood By Me; And Of All The Errors Of My Political Life, This Has Occasioned The Deepest Regret.
Regret
Errors
Political
I Love Peace, And Am Anxious That We Should Give The World Still Another Useful Lesson, By Showing To Them Other Modes Of Punishing Injuries Than By War, Which Is As Much A Punishment To The Punisher As To The Sufferer.
Peace
War
Punishment
Required To Be Constantly Recumbent I Write Slowly And With Difficulty.... Weakened In Body By Infirmities And In Mind By Age, Now Far Gone Into My 83rd Year, Reading One Newspaper Only And Forgetting Immediately What I Read.
Reading
Writing
Years
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.
Religious
Believe
Men
A Society That Will Trade A Little Liberty For A Little Order Will Lose Both, And Deserve Neither.
Inspirational
Success
Order
Speeches That Are Measured By The Hour Will Die With The Hour.
Death
Speech
Hours
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.
Country
Firsts
Power Corrupts
While Learning The Language In France A Young Man's Morals, Health And Fortune Are More Irresistibly Endangered Than In Any Country Of The Universe.
Country
Men
France
Everyone Has A Natural Right To Choose That Vocation In Life Which He Thinks Most Likely Gives Him Comfortable Subsistence.
Life
Thinking
Giving
People Generally Have More Feeling For Canals And Roads Than Education. However, I Hope We Can Advance Them With Equal Pace.
Education
People
Feelings
Revenue On The Consumption Of Foreign Articles Is Paid Cheerfully By Those Who Can Afford To Add Foreign Luxuries To Domestic Comforts.
Luxury
Comfort
Add
The Man Who Stops Advertising To Save Money Is Like The Man Who Stops The Clock To Save Time.
Men
Advertising
Saving Money
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