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

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

Understanding the Quote: "i apprehend... that the total abandonment of the principle of rotation in..."

This quote by Thomas Jefferson reflects deeply on the theme of office. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Office, Political, Abuse, 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 office and political. 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
Office
Political
Abuse
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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
I Am Sure The Man Who Powders Most, Perfumes Most, Embroiders Most, And Talks Most Nonsense, Is Most Admired. Though To Be Candid, There Are Some Who Have Too Much Good Sense To Esteem Such Monkey-like Animals As These, In Whose Formation, As The Saying Is, The Tailors And Barbers Go Halves With God Almighty.
Animal
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Peace, Commerce And Honest Friendship With All Nations; Entangling Alliances With None.
Peace
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The Most Sacred Of The Duties Of A Government [is] To Do Equal And Impartial Justice To All Its Citizens.
Government
Justice
Inalienable Rights
Debt And Revolution Are Inseparable As Cause And Effect.
Debt
Revolution
Causes
Everything Yields To Diligence.
Work
Yield
Motivational Work
I Shall Need, Too, The Favor Of That Being In Whose Hands We Are, Who Led Our Forefathers, As Israel Of Old.
Israel
Hands
Needs
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
Laws That Forbid The Carrying Of Arms Disarm Only Those Who Are Neither Inclined Nor Determined To Commit Crimes.
Gun
Law
Strong Arms
The Diffusion Of Information And The Arraignment Of All Abuses At The Bar Of Public Reason, I Deem [one Of] The Essential Principles Of Our Government, And Consequently [one Of] Those Which Ought To Shape Its Administration.
Government
Abuse
Principles
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.
Wine
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Nothing Was Or Is Farther From My Intentions, Than To Enlist Myself As The Champion Of A Fixed Opinion, Where I Have Only Expressed Doubt.
Champion
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Having Always Observed That Public Works Are Much Less Advantageously Managed Than The Same Are By Private Hands, I Have Thought It Better For The Public To Go To Market For Whatever It Wants Which Is To Be Found There; For There Competition Brings It Down To The Minimum Value.
Hands
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If You Are Obliged To Neglect Any Thing, Let It Be Your Chemistry. It Is The Least Useful And The Least Amusing To A Country Gentleman Of All The Ordinary Branches Of Science.
Country
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Ordinary
But The Fact Being Once Established, That The Press Is Impotent When It Abandons Itself To Falsehood, I Leave To Others To Restore It To Its Strength, By Recalling It Within The Pale Of Truth. Within That, It Is A Noble Institution, Equally The Friend Of Science And Of Civil Liberty.
Freedom
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Noble
When The People Are Afraid Of The Government, That's Tyranny. But When The Government Is Afraid Of The People, That's Liberty.
Government
People
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Private Enterprise Manages So Much Better All The Concerns To Which It Is Equal.
Civil Rights
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Our Minds And Hearts Are Free To Believe Everything Or Nothing At All - And It Is Our Duty To Protect And Perpetuate This Sacred Culture Of Freedom.
Believe
Heart
Mind
Victory And Defeat Are Each Of The Same Price.
Sports
Victory And Defeat
Victory Defeat
The Same Facts Impress Us Differently.
Facts
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A Morsel Of Genuine History Is A Thing So Rare As To Be Always Valuable.
Wisdom
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History
I Advance With Obedience To The Work, Ready To Retire From It Whenever You Become Sensible How Much Better Choice It Is In Your Power To Make.
Choices
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For A People Who Are Free, And Who Mean To Remain So, A Well-organized And Armed Militia Is Their Best Security.
Military
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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.
Believe
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Speeches That Are Measured By The Hour Will Die With The Hour.
Death
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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.
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Those Who Would Trade Safety For Freedom Deserve Neither.
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The Only Security Of All Is In A Free Press.
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The Happiest Moments Of My Life Have Been The Few Which I Have Passed At Home In The Bosom Of My Family.
Family
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Christianity Neither Is, Nor Ever Was A Part Of The Common Law.
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Whiskey Claims To Itself Alone The Exclusive Office Of Sot-making.
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Where The Principle Of Difference [between Political Parties] Is As Substantial And As Strongly Pronounced As Between The Republicans And The Monocrats Of Our Country, I Hold It As Honorable To Take A Firm And Decided Part And As Immoral To Pursue A Middle Line, As Between The Parties Of Honest Men And Rogues, Into Which Every Country Is Divided.
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Among The Sayings And Discourses Imputed To Him (i.e. Jesus) By His Biographers, I Find Many Passages Of Fine Imagination, Correct Morality, And Of The Most Lovely Benevolence; And Others Again Of So Much Ignorance, So Much Absurdity, So Much Untruth, Charlatanism, And Imposture, As To Pronounce It Impossible That Such Contradictions Should Have Proceeded From The Same Being.
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It Is Of Great Importance To Set A Resolution, Not To Be Shaken, Never To Tell An Untruth. There Is No Vice So Mean, So Pitiful, So Contemptible; And He Who Permits Himself To Tell A Lie Once, Finds It Much Easier To Do It A Second And A Third Time, Till At Length It Becomes Habitual.
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The Several States Composing The United States Of America Are Not United On The Principle Of Unlimited Submission To Their General Government
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This Ball Of Liberty, I Believe Most Piously, Is Now So Well In Motion That It Will Roll Round The Globe. At Least The Enlightened Part Of It, For Light & Liberty Go Together.
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The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.
Country
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I Shall See With Sincere Satisfaction The Progress Of Those Sentiments Which Tend To Restore To Man All His Natural Rights, Convinced He Has No Natural Right In Opposition To His Social Duties.
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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
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I Think Our Governments Will Remain Virtuous For Many Centuries As Long As They Are Chiefly Agricultural; And This Will Be As Long As There Shall Be Vacant Lands In Any Part Of America. When They Get Piled Upon One Another In Large Cities As In Europe, They Will Become Corrupt As In Europe.
Thinking
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While The Principles Of Our Constitution Give Just Latitude To Inquiry, Every Citizen Faithful To It Will Deem Embodied Expressions Of Discontent And Open Outrages Of Law And Patriotism As Dishonorable As They Are Injurious
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No Society Is So Precious As That Of One’s Own Family.
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.
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A Right To Property Is Founded In Our Natural Wants, In The Means With Which We Are Endowed To Satisfy These Wants, And The Right To What We Acquire By Those Means Without Violating The Similar Rights Of Other Sensible Beings.
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Amplification Is The Vice Of Modern Oratory.
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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.
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I Am Persuaded Myself That The Good Sense Of The People Will Always Be Found To Be The Best Army. They May Be Led Astray For A Moment, But Will Soon Correct Themselves. The People Are The Only Censors Of Their Governors; And Even Their Errors Will Tend To Keep These To The True Principles Of Their Institution.
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Sensibility Of Mind Is Indeed The Parent Of Every Virtue, But It Is The Parent Of Much Misery, Too.
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Democrats Consider The People As The Safest Depository Of Power In The Last Resort; They Cherish Them, Therefore, And Wish To Leave In Them All The Powers To The Exercise Of Which They Are Competent.
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A Republic Will Avoid War Unless The Avoidance Might Create Conditions That Are Worse Than Warfare Itself. Sometimes, The Dispositions Of Those Who Choose To Make Themselves Our Enemies Leaves Us No Choice.
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If We Believe That He [jesus Christ]really Countenanced The Follies, The Falsehoods, And The Charlatanisms, Which His Biographers [writers Of The New Testament]father Upon Him, And Admit The Misconstructions, Interpolations, And Theorizations Of The Fathers Of The Early And The Fanatics Of The Latter Ages, The Conclusion Would Be Irresistible By Every Sound Mind That He Was An Impostor.
Jesus
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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.
Family
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He Who Permits Himself To Tell A Lie Once, Finds It Much Easier To Do It The Second Time.
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We Are Overdone With Banking Institutions, Which Have Banished The Precious Metals, And Substituted A More Fluctuating And Unsafe Medium... These Have Withdrawn Capital From Useful Improvements And Employments To Nourish Idleness... These Are Evils More Easily To Be Deplored Than Remedied.
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If The Obstacles Of Bigotry And Priestcraft Can Be Surmounted, We May Hope That Common Sense Will Suffice To Do Everything Else.
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Without Virtue, Happiness Cannot Be.
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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!
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I Hope We Shall Crush In Its Birth The Aristocracy Of Our Monied Corporations Which Dare Already To Challenge Our Government To A Trial By Strength, And Bid Defiance To The Laws Of Our Country.
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Let Common Sense And Common Honesty Have Fair Play, And They Will Soon Set Things To Rights.
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Light And Liberty Go Together.
Light
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Those Who Have Once Got An Ascendancy, And Possessed Themselves Of All The Resources Of The Nation, Their Revenues And Offices, Have Immense Means For Retaining Their Advantage.
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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.
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We Must Train And Classify The Whole Of Our Male Citizens, And Make Military Instruction A Regular Part Of Collegiate Education.
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It Is Always Better To Have No Ideas Than False Ones; To Believe Nothing, Than To Believe What Is Wrong.
Believe
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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.
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When We Come To The Moral Principles On Which The Government Is To Be Administered, We Come To What Is Proper For All Conditions Of Society. Liberty, Truth, Probity, Honor, Are Declared To Be The Four Cardinal Principles Of Society. I Believe That Morality, Compassion, Generosity, Are Innate Elements Of The Human Constitution; That There Exists A Right Independent Of Force.
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The Mass Of Mankind Has Not Been Born With Saddles On Their Backs, Nor A Favored Few Booted And Spurred, Ready To Ride Them Legitimately, By The Grace Of God.
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To Compel A Man To Furnish Contributions Of Money For The Propagation Of Opinions Which He Disbelieves And Abhors, Is Sinful And Tyrannical; . . . Even The Forcing Him To Support This Or That Teacher Of His Own Religious Persuasion, Is Depriving Him Of The Comfortable Liberty Of Giving His Contributions To The Particular Pastor Whose Morals He Would Make His Pattern. . . .
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Experience Hath Shewn, That Even Under The Best Forms Of Government Those Entrusted With Power Have, In Time, And By Slow Operations, Perverted It Into Tyranny.
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... I Am Not Afraid Of Priests. They Have Tried Upon Me All Their Various Batteries Of Pious Whining, Hypocritical Canting, Lying And Slandering. I Have Contemplated Their Order From The Magi Of The East To The Saints Of The West And I Have Found No Difference Of Character, But Of More Or Less Caution, In Proportion To Their Information Or Ignorance On Whom Their Interested Duperies Were To Be Played Off. Their Sway In New England Is Indeed Formidable. No Mind Beyond Mediocrity Dares There To Develop Itself.
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The Best Commentary On The Principles Of Government Which Has Ever Been Written.
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Commentary
A True Patriot Will Defend His Country From Its Government.
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Nothing But Good Can Result From An Exchange Of Information And Opinions Between Those Whose Circumstances And Morals Admit No Doubt Of The Integrity Of Their Views.
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Men Are Disposed To Live Honestly, If The Means Of Doing So Are Open To Them.
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Congress Has Scarcely Any Thing To Employ Them, And Complain That The Place [washington, D.c.] Is Remarkably Dull.
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Congress
It Should Be Our Endeavor To Cultivate The Peace And Friendship Of Every Nation, Even Of That Which Has Injured Us Most.
Should
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Excessive Taxation . . . Will Carry Reason & Reflection To Every Man's Door, And Particularly In The Hour Of Election.
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Men
Doors
[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
You See I Am An Enthusiast On The Subject Of The Arts.
Art
Subjects
The Cost Of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance
Cost
Vigilance
Eternal
You Will Perceive By My Preaching That I Am Growing Old: It Is The Privilege Of Years, And I Am Sure You Will Pardon It From The Purity Of It's Motives.
Years
Age
Growing
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.
Religious
Fighting
Faith Religion
Aristocrats Fear The People, And Wish To Transfer All Power To The Higher Classes Of Society.
Class
People
Wish
It Is An Insult To Our Citizens To Question Whether They Are Rational Beings Or Not, And Blasphemy Against Religion To Suppose It Cannot Stand The Test Of Truth And Reason.
Atheism
Citizens
Tests
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.
Lying
Believe
Heart
The Bible Is The Cornerstone Of Liberty.
4th Of July
Liberty
Cornerstones
There Is Not A Sprig Of Grass That Shoots Uninteresting To Me.
Weed
Nature
Environmental
Public Offices Were Not Made For Private Convenience.
Office
Made
Convenience
A Single Good Government Becomes... A Blessing To The Whole Earth, Its Welcome To The Oppressed Restraining Within Certain Limits The Measure Of Their Oppressions. But Should Even This Be Counteracted By Violence On The Right Of Expatriation, The Other Branch Of Our Example Then Presents Itself For Imitation: To Rise On Their Rulers And Do As We Have Done.
Blessing
Government
Example
In Every Country And In Every Age, The Priest Has Been Hostile To Liberty.
Inspirational
Life
Birthday
The Rational And Peaceable Instrument Of Reform, The Suffrage Of The People.
People
Voting
Reform
Dependence Begets Subservience And Venality, Suffocates The Germ Of Virtue, And Prepares Fit Tools For The Designs Of Ambition.
Ambition
Government
Design
The Office Of Reformer Of The Superstitions Of A Nation, Is Ever More Dangerous. Jesus Had To Work On The Perilous Confines Of Reason And Religion; And A Step To The Right Or Left Might Place Him Within The Grasp Of The Priests Of The Superstition, A Bloodthirsty Race, As Cruel And Remorseless As The Being Whom They Represented As The Family God Of Abraham, Of Isaac And Of Jacob, And The Local God Of Israel. That Jesus Did Not Mean To Impose Himself On Mankind As The Son Of God, Physically Speaking, I Have Been Convinced By The Writings Of Men More Learned Than Myself In That Lore.
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Writing
He [washington] Has Often Declared To Me That He Considered Our New Constitution As An Experiment On The Practicability Of Republican Government, And With What Dose Of Liberty Man Could Be Trusted For His Own Good; That He Was Determined The Experiment Should Have A Fair Trial, And Would Lose The Last Drop Of His Blood In Support Of It. And These Declarations He Repeated To Me The Oftener And The More Pointedly.
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It Is Part Of The American Character To Consider Nothing As Desperate.
Character
America
Desperate
On Every Question Of Construction (of The Constitution) Let Us Carry Ourselves Back To The Time When The Constitution Was Adopted, Recollect The Spirit Of The Debates, And Instead Of Trying What Meaning May Be Squeezed Out Of The Text, Or Invented Against It, Conform To The Probable One In Which It Was Passed.
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Trying
May
No Man Will Ever Carry Out Of The Presidency The Reputation Which Carried Him Into It.
Men
Political
Politics
If We Can But Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labours Of The People, Under The Pretence Of Taking Care Of Them, They Must Become Happy.
Government
America
People
Cultivators Of The Earth Are The Most Virtuous And Independent Citizens.
Independent
Citizens
Earth
The Man Who Reads Nothing At All Is Better Educated Than The Man Who Reads Nothing But Newspapers.
Business
Book
Reading
It Is Highly Interesting To Our Country, And It Is The Duty Of Its Functionaries, To Provide That Every Citizen In It Should Receive An Education Proportioned To The Condition And Pursuits Of His Life.
Country
Interesting
Citizens
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.
Country
Law
People
It Is Time Enough, For The Rightful Purposes Of Civil Government, For Its Officers To Interfere [in The Propagation Of Religious Teachings] When Principles Break Out Into Overt Acts Against Peace And Good Order.
Religious
Teaching
Government
My Passion Strengthens Daily To Quit Political Turmoil, And Retire Into The Bosom Of My Family, The Only Scene Of Sincere And Purehappiness.
Happiness
Passion
Political
Being Myself A Warm Zealot For The Attainment & Enjoiment By All Mankind Of As Much Liberty As Each May Exercise Without Injury To The Equal Liberty Of His Fellow Citizens, I Have Lamented That In France The Endeavors To Obtain This Should Have Been Attended With The Effusion Of So Much Blood.
Exercise
Blood
Should Have
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 Press Is The Best Instrument For Enlightening The Mind Of Man, And Improving Him As A Rational, Moral And Social Being
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Media
Mind
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
In Short I Must Confide In You To Take Such Care Of The Men Under You As An Economical Householder Would Of His Own Family, Doingevery Thing Within Himself As Far As He Can, And Calling For As Few Supplies As Possible. The Less You Depend For Supplies From This Quarter, The Less You Will Be Disappointed.
Men
Calling
Care
Walking Is The Best Possible Exercise. Habituate Yourself To Walk Very Far.
Fitness
Exercise
Walks
The Opinions Of Men Are Not The Object Of Civil Government, Nor Under Its Jurisdiction; That To Suffer The Civil Magistrate To Intrude His Powers Into The Field Of Opinion And To Restrain The Profession Or Propagation Of Principles On Supposition Of Their Ill Tendency Is A Dangerous Falacy, Which At Once Destroys All Religious Liberty...
Religious
Men
Suffering
When We Get Piled Upon One Another In Large Cities, As In Europe, We Shall Become As Corrupt As Europe.
Europe
Cities
Large Cities
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.
Character
Men
May
He Has Erected A Multitude Of New Offices, And Sent Hither Swarms Of Officers To Harass Our People And Eat Out Their Substance.
People
Office
Substance
A Room Without Books Is Like A Life Without Meaning.
Book
Rooms
Lovers
All Power Is Inherent In The People.
Gun
Strong Arms
People
Money, Not Morality, Constitutes The Principle Of Commercial Nations.
Principles
Morality
Nations
The Right To Use A Thing Comprehends A Right To The Means Necessary To Its Use, And Without Which It Would Be Useless.
Mean
Would Be
Use
The Firmness With Which The (american) People Have Withstood The... Abuses Of The Press, The Discernment They Have Manifested Between Truth And Falsehood, Show That They May Safely Be Trusted To Hear Everything True And False And To Form A Correct Judgment Between Them.
People
Abuse
True And False
It Is A [disputed] Question, Whether The Circulation Of Paper, Rather Than Of Specie [gold And Silver Coin], Is A Good Or An Evil I Believe It To Be One Of Those Cases Where Mercantile Clamor Will Bear Down Reason, Until It Is Corrected By Ruin.
Believe
Evil
Gold
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
Too Old To Plant Trees For My Own Gratification, I Shall Do It For My Posterity.
Garden
Tree
Serving Others
The Worst Day In A Man's Life Is When He Sits Down And Begins Thinking About How He Can Get Something For Nothing.
Men
Thinking
Down And
And Where Else Will [hume,] This Degenerate Son Of Science, This Traitor To His Fellow Men, Find The Origin Of Just Powers, If Not In The Majority Of The Society? Will It Be In The Minority? Or In An Individual Of That Minority?
Son
Men
Democracy
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?
Hypocrite
Errors
Support
A Nation's Best Defense Is An Educated Citizenry
Defense
Educated
Nations
Every One Must Act According To The Dictates Of His Own Reason, And Mine Tells Me That Civil Powers Alone Have Been Given To The President Of The United States, And No Authority To Direct The Religious Exercises Of His Constituents.
Religious
Exercise
Religion
The Art Of Life Is The Art Of Avoiding Pain.
Inspirational
Funny
Life
People Generally Have More Feeling For Canals And Roads Than Education. However, I Hope We Can Advance Them With Equal Pace.
Education
People
Feelings
I Extremely Believe In Luck, And I Discovered More Hard Work, Your Luck As Much
Believe
Hard Work
Luck
Principle Will, In... Most... Cases Open The Way For Us To Correct Conclusion.
Principles
Way
Cases
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.
Wisdom
War
Government Debt
To The Corruptions Of Christianity I Am Indeed Opposed; But Not To The Genuine Precepts Of Jesus Himself. I Am A Christian, In The Only Sense He Wished Any One To Be; Sincerely Attached To His Doctrines, In Preference To All Others; Ascribing To Himself Every Human Excellence; & Believing He Never Claimed Any Other.
Christian
Jesus
Believe
Take More Pleasure In Giving What Is Best To Another Than In Having It For Yourself, And Then All The World Will Love You.
Father
Love You
Giving
My Heart Trembles When I Reflect That God Is Just
God
Patriotic
Heart
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.
Names
Wish
Goes On
Truth Is Certainly A Branch Of Morality And A Very Important One To Society.
Hero
Important
Society
I Can Never Fear That Things Will Go Far Wrong Where Common Sense Has Fair Play.
Play
Common Sense
Never Fear
Erecting The 'wall Of Separation Between Church And State'... Is Absolutely Essential In A Free Society.
Religious
Wall
Religion
The Steady Character Of Our Countrymen Is A Rock To Which We May Safely Moor; And Notwithstanding The Efforts Of The Papers To Disseminate Early Discontents, I Expect That A Just, Dispassionate And Steady Conduct, Will At Length Rally To A Proper System The Great Body Of Our Country. Unequivocal In Principle, Reasonable In Manner, We Shall Be Able I Hope To Do A Great Deal Of Good To The Cause Of Freedom & Harmony.
Country
Character
Rocks
No Man Has Done Everything He Can Who Has Done Only His Best.
Men
Done
Politics
I Love To See Honest And Honorable Men At The Helm, Men Who Will Not Bend Their Politics To Their Purses, Nor Pursue Measures By Which They May Profit, And Then Profit By Their Measures.
Men
Honorable Man
May
Let Your Gun Therefore Be Your Constant Companion Of Your Walks.
Gun
Second Amendment
Mind Games
I Am Mortified To Be Told That, In The United States Of America, The Sale Of A Book Can Become A Subject Of Inquiry, And Of Criminal Inquiry Too.
Book
Thinking
America
Leave No Authority Existing Not Responsible To The People.
People
Authority
Responsible
In A Republican Nation Whose Citizens Are To Be Led By Reason And Persuasion And Not By Force, The Art Of Reasoning Becomes Of First Importance.... Reason And Persuasion Are The Only Practicable Instruments. To Make Way For These, Free Inquiry Must Be Indulged.... Let Them Take Arms. The Remedy Is To Set Them Right As To The Facts, Pardon And Pacify Them.
Art
Citizens
Inquiry
Unless The Mass Retains Sufficient Control Over Those Entrusted With The Powers Of Their Government, These Will Be Perverted To Their Own Oppression, And To The Perpetuation Of Wealth And Power In The Individuals And Their Families Selected For The Trust.
Government
Wealth
Oppression
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
My Religious Reading Has Long Been Confined To The Moral Branch Of Religion, Which Is The Same In All Religions; While In That Branch Which Consists Of Dogmas, All Differ[.
Religious
Reading
Long
The Abolition Of Domestic Slavery Is The Great Object Of Desire In Those Colonies, Where It Was Unhappily Introduced In Their Infant State.
Desire
Slavery
States
He, Who Steadily Observes Those Moral Precepts In Which All Religions Concur, Will Never Be Questioned At The Gates Of Heaven As To The Dogmas In Which They All Differ.
Destiny
Heaven
Religion
The Earth Belongs To The Living. No Man Can, By Natural Right, Oblige The Lands He Occupied Or The Persons Who Succeed Him In That Occupation, To The Payment Of Debts Contracted By Him. For If He Could, He Might, During His Own Life, Eat Up The Use Of The Lands For Several Generations To Come, And Then The Lands Would Belong To The Dead, And Not To The Living. No Generation Can Contract Debts Greater Than May Be Paid During The Course Of Its Own Existence.
Men
Land
Generations
I Find As I Grow Older That I Love Those Most Whom I Loved First.
Age
Firsts
Grows
I Am Not Among Those Who Fear The People. They, And Not The Rich, Are Our Dependence For Continued Freedom.
Government Debt
People
Revolution
Free Government Is Founded In Jealousy, And Not In Confidence; It Is Jealousy, And Not Confidence, Which Prescribes Limited Constitutions, To Bind Down Those Whom We Are Obliged To Trust With Power.
Government
Liberty
Constitution
Never Use Two Words When One Will Do.
Two
Use
Music, Drawing, Books, Invention & Exercise Will Be So Many Resources To You Against Ennui.
Educational
Book
Exercise
But This Momentous Question, Like A Fire Bell In The Night, Awakened And Filled Me With Terror.
Night
Fire
Bells
Not Less Than Two Hours A Day Should Be Devoted To Exercise.
Exercise
Two
Endurance
I Hope The Terms Of Excellency, Honor, Worship, Esquire, Forever Disappear From Among Us... I Wish That Of Mr. Would Follow Them.
Forever
Political
Honor
The Care Of Every Man's Soul Belongs To Himself. But What If He Neglect The Care Of It? Well What If He Neglect The Care Of His Health Or His Estate, Which Would More Nearly Relate To The State. Will The Magistrate Make A Law That He Not Be Poor Or Sick? Laws Provide Against Injury From Others; But Not From Ourselves. God Himself Will Not Save Men Against Their Wills.
Men
Law
Sick
Establish The Eternal Truth That Acquiescence Under Insult Is Not The Way To Escape War.
Military
War
Acquiescence
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 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.
Jesus
Real
Teaching
Liberty Is To The Collective Body, What Health Is To Every Individual Body. Without Health No Pleasure Can Be Tasted By Man; Without Liberty, No Happiness Can Be Enjoyed By Society.
Men
Healthy
Individuality
For The Present We May Groupe The Sciences Into Professorships As Follows, Subject However To Be Changed According To The Qualifications Of The Persons We May Be Able To Engage.
Educational
May
Able
I Value Peace, And I Should Unwillingly See Any Event Take Place Which Would Render War A Necessary Resource.
Peace
War
Events
Nothing But Free Argument, Raillery And Even Ridicule Will Preserve The Purity Of Religion.
Atheism
Argument
Purity
In Matters Of Style, Swim With The Current; In Matters Of Principle, Stand Like A Rock.
Inspirational
Motivational
Success
I Never Told My Own Religion Nor Scrutinized That Of Another. I Never Attempted To Make A Convert, Nor Wished To Change Another's Creed. I Am Satisfied That Yours Must Be An Excellent Religion To Have Produced A Life Of Such Exemplary Virtue And Correctness. For It Is In Our Lives, And Not From Our Words, That Our Religion Must Be Judged.
Life
Religion
Our Words
[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
Where A New Invention Promises To Be Useful, It Ought To Be Tried.
Promise
President
Liberty
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
Questions Of Natural Right Are Triable By Their Conformity With The Moral Sense And Reason Of Man.
Men
Inalienable Rights
Moral
Experience Has Taught Me That Manufacturers Are Now As Necessary To Our Independence As To Our Comfort.
Independence
Comfort
Taught
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
Government
Giving
If Once The People Become Inattentive To The Public Affairs, You And I, And Congress And Assemblies, Judges And Governors, Shall All Become Wolves. It Seems To Be The Law Of Our General Nature, In Spite Of Individual Exceptions.
Law
Tyrants
People
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.
Thinking
Religion
Atheism
Still Less, Let It Be Proposed That Our Properties Within Our Own Territories Shall Be Taxed Or Regulated By Any Power On Earth But Our Own. The God Who Gave Us Life Gave Us Liberty At The Same Time: The Hand Of Force May Destroy, But Cannot Disjoin Them.
Hands
Liberty
Taxation
The Republican Is The Only Form Of Government Which Is Not Eternally At Open Or Secret War With The Rights Of Mankind.
War
Rights
Government
A Single Good Government Is A Blessing To The Whole Earth.
Blessing
Government
Liberty
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.
Art
Taste
Firsts
If Some Period Be Not Fixed, Either By The Constitution Or By Practice, To The Services Of The First Magistrate, His Office, Though Nominally Elective, Will, In Fact, Be For Life, And That Will Soon Degenerate Into An Inheritance.
Life
Practice
Office
Though You Cannot See, When You Take One Step, What Will Be The Next, Yet Follow Truth, Justice, And Plain Dealing, And Never Fear Their Leading You Out Of [any Difficult Situation] In The Easiest Manner Possible.
Truth
Lying
Difficult Situations
We Are Firmly Convinced, And We Act On That Conviction, That With Nations As With Individuals Our Interests Soundly Calculated Will Ever Be Found Inseparable From Our Moral Duties, And History Bears Witness To The Fact That A Just Nation Is Trusted On Its Word When Recourse Is Had To Armaments And Wars To Bridle Others.
War
Facts
Bears
The People Are The Ultimate Guardians Of Their Own Liberties. In Every Government On Earth Is Some Trace Of Human Weakness, Some Germ Of Corruption And Degeneracy . . . Every Government Degenerates When Trusted To The Rulers Of The People Alone.
Government
People
Liberty
Whenever A Man Has Cast A Longing Eye On Offices, A Rottenness Begins In His Conduct.
Eye
Men
Office
Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing.
Courage
Patriotic
Men
A Democratic Society Depends Upon An Informed And Educated Citizenry.
Library
Librarian
Democratic
It Will Take A Thousand Years For The Frontier To Reach The Pacific
Inspirational
Years
Thousand
A Free People [claim] Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.
4th Of July
Rights
Law
Had Not A Conviction Of The Danger To Which An Unlimited Occupation Of The Executive Chair Would Expose The Republican Constitution Of Our Government, Made It Conscientiously A Duty To Retire When I Did, The Fear Of Becoming A Dotard And Of Being Insensible Of It, Would Of Itself Have Resisted All Solicitations To Remain.
Government
Occupation
Becoming
So, Ask The Travelled Inhabitant Of Any Nation, In What Country On Earth Would You Rather Live? — Certainly, In My Own, Where Are All My Friends, My Relations, And The Earliest And Sweetest Affections And Recollections Of My Life. Which Would Be Your Second Choice? France.
Country
Choices
Would Be
Believing That The Happiness Of Mankind Is Best Promoted By The Useful Pursuits Of Peace, That On These Alone A Stable Prosperity Can Be Founded, That The Evils Of War Are Great In Their Endurance, And Have A Long Reckoning For Ages To Come, I Have Used My Best Endeavors To Keep Our Country Uncommitted In The Troubles Which Afflict Europe, And Which Assail Us On Every Side.
Country
Peace
War
Scenes Are Now To Take Place As Will Open The Eyes Of Credulity And Of Insanity Itself, To The Dangers Of A Paper Medium Abandoned To The Discretion Of Avarice And Of Swindlers.
Eye
Insanity
Paper
Does The Government Fear Us? Or Do We Fear The Government? When The People Fear The Government, Tyranny Has Found Victory. The Federal Government Is Our Servant, Not Our Master!
Government
People
Southern
Our Public Credit Is Good, But The Abundance Of Paper Has Produced A Spirit Of Gambling In The Funds, Which Has Laid Up Our Ships At The Wharves As Too Slow Instruments Of Profit, And Has Even Disarmed The Hand Of The Tailor Of His Needle And Thimble. They Say The Evil Will Cure Itself. I Wish It May; But I Have Rarely Seen A Gamester Cured, Even By The Disasters Of His Vocation.
Gambling
Hands
Evil
The People Of Every Country Are The Only Safe Guardians Of Their Own Rights, And Are The Only Instruments Which Can Be Used For Their Destruction. And Certainly They Would Never Consent To Be So Used Were They Not Deceived. To Avoid This They Should Be Instructed To A Certain Degree.
Country
Rights
People
By [the] Operations [of Public Improvement] New Channels Of Communication Will Be Opened Between The States; The Lines Of Separation Will Disappear, Their Interests Will Be Identified, And Their Union Cemented By New And Indissoluble Ties.
Communication
Ties
Unions
I Have Much Confidence That We Shall Proceed Successfully For Ages To Come. My Hope Of Its Duration Is Built Much On The Enlargement Of The Resources Of Life Going Hand In Hand With The Enlargement Of Territory.
Hands
Age
Duration
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