Background Image

...

I Had No Idea, However, That In Pennsylvania, The Cradle Of Toleration And Freedom Of Religion, It [fanaticism] Could Have Arisen To The Height You Describe. This Must Be Owing To The Growth Of Presbyterianism. The Blasphemy Of The Five Points Of Calvin, And The Impossibility Of Defending Them, Render Their Advocates Impatient Of Reasoning, Irritable, And Prone To Denunciation.

-Thomas Jefferson

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

I Had No Idea,

Thomas Jefferson

...

I Had No Idea, However, That In Pennsylvania, The Cradle Of Toleration And Freedom Of Religion, It [fanaticism] Could Have Arisen To The Height You Describe. This Must Be Owing To The Growth Of Presbyterianism. The Blasphemy Of The Five Points Of Calvin, And The Impossibility Of Defending Them, Render Their Advocates Impatient Of Reasoning, Irritable, And Prone To Denunciation.

Views: 5

Topic

More From Thomas Jefferson

The Merchant Has No Country .

If I Am To Meet With A Disappointment, The Sooner I Know It, The More Of Life I Shall Have To Wear It Off.

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.

I Consider Trial By Jury As The Only Anchor Ever Yet Imagined By Man, By Which A Government Can Be Held To The Principles Of Its Constitution.

Money, Not Morality, Constitutes The Principle Of Commercial Nations.

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.

It Is Left... To The Juries, If They Think The Permanent Judges Are Under Any Bias Whatever In Any Cause, To Take On Themselves To Judge The Law As Well As The Fact. They Never Exercise This Power But When They Suspect Partiality In The Judges; And By The Exercise Of This Power They Have Been The Firmest Bulwarks Of English Liberty.

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

Congress Has Scarcely Any Thing To Employ Them, And Complain That The Place [washington, D.c.] Is Remarkably Dull.

A Noiseless Course, Not Meddling With The Affairs Of Others, Unattractive Of Notice, Is A Mark That Society Is Going On In Happiness. If We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labors Of The People Under The Pretense Of Taking Care Of Them, They Must Become Happy.

If I Had To Choose Between Government Without Newspapers, And Newspapers Without Government, I Wouldn't Hesitate To Choose The Latter

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

With Respect To Our State And Federal Governments, I Do Not Think Their Relations Correctly Understood By Foreigners. They Generally Suppose The Former Subordinate To The Latter. But This Is Not The Case. They Are Co-ordinate Departments Of One Simple And Integral Whole.

I Hold It To Be One Of The Distinguishing Excellences Of Elective Over Hereditary Successions That The Talents Which Nature Has Provided In Sufficient Proportion, Should Be Selected By The Society For The Govenment Of Their Affairs, Rather Than That This Should Be Be Transmitted Through The Loins Of Knaves And Fools Passing From The Debauches Of The Table To Those Of The Bed.

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

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

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

You Know Well That Government Always Kept A Kind Of Standing Army Of Newswriters Who, Without Any Regard To Truth Or To What Should Be Like Truth, Invented And Put Into The Papers Whatever Might Serve The [government] Ministers. This Suffices With The Mass Of The People Who Have No Means Of Distinguishing The False From The True Paragraphs Of A Newspaper.

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.

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

Certain Teachings In The Bible Are As Diamonds In A Dung-heap.

The Judiciary Of The United States Is The Subtle Corps Of Sappers And Miners Constantly Working Under Ground To Undermine The Foundations Of Our Confederated Fabric. They Are Construing Our Constitution From A Co-ordination Of A General And Special Government To A General And Supreme One Alone.

The Benefit Of Even Limited Monopolies Is Too Doubtful, To Be Opposed To That Of Their General Suppression.

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

Among The Most Inestimable Of Our Blessings Is That ... Of Liberty To Worship Our Creator In The Way We Think Most Agreeable To His Will; A Liberty Deemed In Other Countries Incompatible With Good Government And Yet Proved By Our Experience To Be Its Best Support.

While Old Men Feel Sensibly Enough Their Own Advance In Years, They Do Not Sufficiently Recollect It In Those Whom They Have Seenyoung.

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

Vegetarian Diet

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.

Bank-paper Must Be Suppressed, And The Circulating Medium Must Be Restored To The Nation To Whom It Belongs.

I Deny The Power Of The General Government To Making Paper Money, Or Anything Else A Legal Tender.

The Proscribing Any Citizen As Unworthy The Public Confidence By Laying Upon Him An Incapacity Of Being Called To Offices Of Trust And Emolument Unless He Profess Or Renounce This Or That Religious Opinion Is Depriving Him Injuriously Of Those Privileges And Advantages To Which, In Common With His Fellow Citizens, He Has A Natural Right.

I May Err In My Measures, But Never Shall Deflect From The Intention To Fortify The Public Liberty By Every Possible Means, And To Put It Out Of The Power Of The Few To Riot On The Labors Of The Many.

"it Astonishes Me To Find... [that So Many] Of Our Countrymen... Should Be Contented To Live Under A System Which Leaves To Their Governors The Power Of Taking From Them The Trial By Jury In Civil Cases, Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of The Press, Freedom Of Commerce, The Habeas Corpus Laws, And Of Yoking Them With A Standing Army. This Is A Degeneracy In The Principles Of Liberty... Which I [would Not Have Expected For At Least] Four Centuries."

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

Stock Dealers And Banking Companies, By The Aid Of A Paper System, Are Enriching Themselves To The Ruin Of Our Country, And Swaying The Government By Their Possession Of The Printing Presses, Which Their Wealth Commands And By Any Other Means, Not Always Honorable To The Character Of Our Countrymen.

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.

I Prefer The Tumult Of Liberty To The Quiet Of Servitude

The Equal Rights Of Man And The Happiness Of Every Individual Are Now Acknowledged To Be The Only Legitimate Objects Of Government.

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

History Teaches The Young The Virtues Of Freedom. By Apprising Them Of The Past It Will Enable Them To Judge The Future.

The Declaration Of Rights [bill Of Rights] Is, Like All Other Human Blessings, Alloyed With Some Inconveniences And Not Accomplishing Fully Its Object. But The Good In This Instance Vastly Outweighs The Evil.

I Like To See The People Awake And Alert.

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

To All Of Which Is Added A Selection From The Elementary Schools Of Subjects Of The Most Promising Genius, Whose Parents Are Too Poor To Give Them Further Education, To Be Carried At The Public Expense Through The College And University. The Object Is To Bring Into Action That Mass Of Talents Which Lies Buried In Poverty In Every Country, For Want Of The Means Of Development, And Thus Give Activity To A Mass Of Mind, Which, In Proportion To Our Population, Shall Be Double Or Treble Of What It Is In Most Countries.

We Must Meet Our Duty And Convince The World That We Are Just Friends And Brave Enemies.

Even In Europe A Change Has Sensibly Taken Place In The Mind Of Man. Science Has Liberated The Ideas Of Those Who Read And Reflect, And The American Example Has Kindled Feelings Of Right In The People. An Insurrection Has Consequently Begun Of Science Talents And Courage Against Rank And Birth, Which Have Fallen Into Contempt. It Has Failed In Its First Effort, Because The Mobs Of The Cities, The Instrument Used For Its Accomplishment, Debased By Ignorance, Poverty And Vice, Could Not Be Restrained To Rational Action. But The World Will Soon Recover From The Panic Of This First Catastrophe.

The End Of Democracy And The Defeat Of The American Revolution Will Occur When Government Falls Into The Hands Of Lending Institutions And Moneyed Incorporations.

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

The Movements Of Nature Are In A Never Ending Circle. The Animal Species Which Has Once Been Put Into A Train Of Motion, Is Still Probably Moving In That Train. For If One Link In Nature's Chain Might Be Lost, Another And Another Might Be Lost, Till This Whole System Of Things Should Evanish By Piece-meal; A Conclusion Not Warranted By The Local Disappearance Of One Or Two Species Of Animals, And Opposed By The Thousands And Thousands Of Instances Of The Renovating Power Constantly Exercised By Nature For The Reproduction Of All Her Subjects, Animal, Vegetable, And Mineral.

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

It Is Always Better To Have No Ideas Than False Ones; To Believe Nothing, Than To Believe What Is Wrong.

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.

It Is Comfortable To See The Standard Of Reason At Length Erected, After So Many Ages, During Which The Human Mind Has Been Held In Vassalage By Kings, Priests, And Nobles; And It Is Honorable For Us To Have Produced The First Legislature Who Had The Courage To Declare That The Reason Of Man May Be Trusted With The Formation Of His Own Opinions.

An Association Of Men Who Will Not Quarrel With One Another Is A Thing Which Has Never Yet Existed, From The Greatest Confederacy Of Nations Down To A Town Meeting Or A Vestry.

A Properly Functioning Democracy Depends On An Informed Electorate.

Many Are The Exercises Of Power Reserved To The States Wherein A Uniformity Of Proceeding Would Be Advantageous To All. Such Are Quarantines, Health Laws, Regulations Of The Press, Banking Institutions, Training Militia, Etc., Etc.

Never Use One Word When Two Will Do.

I Candidly Confess That I Have Ever Looked On Cuba As The Most Interesting Addition Which Could Ever Be Made To Our System Of States. The Control Which, With Florida, This Island Would Give Us Over The Gulf Of Mexico, And The Countries And Isthmus Bordering On It, As Well As All Those Whose Waters Flow Into It, Would Fill Up The Measure Of Our Political Well-being.

The Attempt Of Lavoisier To Reform Chemical Nomenclature Is Premature. One Single Experiment May Destroy The Whole Filiation Of His Terms; And His String Of Sulphates, Sulphites, And Sulphures, May Have Served No End Than To Have Retarded The Progress Of Science By A Jargon, From The Confusion Of Which Time Will Be Requisite To Extricate Us.

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

Creeds Have Been The Bane Of The Christian Church ... Made Of Christendom A Slaughter-house.

Subject Opinion To Coercion: Whom Will You Make Your Inquisitors? Fallible Men; Men Governed By Bad Passions, By Private As Well As Public Reasons. And Why Subject It To Coercion? To Produce Uniformity. But Is Uniformity Of Opinion Desirable? No More Than Of Face And Stature.

Experience Having Long Taught Me The Reasonableness Of Mutual Sacrifices Of Opinion Among Those Who Are To Act Together For Any Common Object, And The Expediency Of Doing What Good We Can; When We Cannot Do All We Would Wish.

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.

No Government Can Be Maintained Without The Principle Of Fear As Well As Duty. Good Men Will Obey The Last, But Bad Ones The Former Only. If Our Government Ever Fails, It Will Be From This Weakness.

By Making This Wine Known To The Public, I Have Rendered My Country As Great A Service As If I Had Enabled It To Pay Back The National Debt.

... The Common Law Existed While The Anglo-saxons Were Yet Pagans, At A Time When They Had Never Yet Heard The Name Of Christ Pronounced Or Knew That Such A Character Existed.

Both Of Our Political Parties, At Least The Honest Portion Of Them, Agree Conscientiously In The Same Object: The Public Good; But They Differ Essentially In What They Deem The Means Of Promoting That Good. One Side Believes It Best Done By One Composition Of The Governing Powers, The Other By A Different One. One Fears Most The Ignorance Of The People; The Other The Selfishness Of Rulers Independent Of Them. Which Is Right, Time And Experience Will Prove.

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.

Truth Is Certainly A Branch Of Morality And A Very Important One To Society.

I Am A Sect By Myself, As Far As I Know.

I Find As I Grow Older That I Love Those Most Whom I Loved First.

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.

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

The 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.

Public Offices Were Not Made For Private Convenience.

The Last Hope Of Human Liberty In This World Rests On Us. We Ought, For So Dear A Stake, To Sacrifice Every Attachment & Every Enmity.

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.

We Abhor The Follies Of War, And Are Not Untried In Its Distresses And Calamities. Unmeddling With The Affairs Of Other Nations, We Had Hoped That Our Distance And Our Dispositions Would Have Left Us Free, In The Example And Indulgence Of Peace With All The World.

The Days Of Life Are Consumed, One By One, Without An Object Beyond The Present Moment; Ever Flying From The Ennui Of That, Yet Carrying It With Us; Eternally In Pursuit Of Happiness, Which Keeps Eternally Before Us. If Death Or Bankruptcy Happen To Trip Us Out Of The Circle, It Is Matter For The Buzz Of The Evening, And Is Completely Forgotten By The Next Morning.

Pursuit Of Happiness

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.

The Patriot, Like The Christian, Must Learn To Bear Revilings And Persecutions As A Part Of His Duty; And In Proportion As The Trial Is Severe, Firmness Under It Becomes More Requisite And Praiseworthy. It Requires, Indeed, Self-command. But That Will Be Fortified In Proportion As The Calls For Its Exercise Are Repeated.

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

Individual Happiness

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.

The Declaration That Religious Faith Shall Be Unpunished Does Not Give Immunity To Criminal Acts Dictated By Religious Error.

A Community Of Small Farmers... Land Property Owners, Will Be The Only Assurance That The Freedom Our Republic Offers Will Be Guaranteed To Each And Every Citizen.

And For The Support Of This Declaration, With A Firm Reliance On The Protection Of Divine Providence, We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor.

The Most Sacred Of The Duties Of A Government [is] To Do Equal And Impartial Justice To All Its Citizens.

Inalienable Rights

I Am Not Afraid Of The Priests. They Have Tried Upon Me All Their Various Batteries, Of Pious Whining, Hypocritical Canting, Lying And Slandering, Without Being Able To Give Me One Moment Of Pain.

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

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

It Is More Honorable To Repair A Wrong Than To Persist In It.

I Wish To See This Beverage Become Common Instead Of The Whiskey Which Kills Sone-third Of Our Citizens And Ruins Their Families.

The Uniform Tenor Of A Man's Life Furnishes Better Evidence Of What He Has Said Or Done On Any Particular Occasion Than The Word Of Any Enemy.

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

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

There Is No Justification For Taking Away Individuals' Freedom In The Guise Of Public Safety.

Was The Government To Prescribe To Us Our Medicine And Diet, Our Bodies Would Be In Such Keeping As Our Souls Are Now.

In A Virtuous And Free State, No Rewards Can Be So Pleasing To Sensible Minds, As Those Which Include The Approbation Of Our Fellow Citizens. My Great Pain Is, Lest My Poor Endeavours Should Fall Short Of The Kind Expectations Of My Country.

Man Once Surrendering His Reason, Has No Remaining Guard Against Absurdities The Most Monstrous, And Like A Ship Without Rudder, Is The Sport Of Every Wind. With Such Persons, Gullibility, Which They Call Faith, Takes The Helm From The Hand Of Reason, And The Mind Becomes A Wreck.

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.

I Abhor War And View It As The Greatest Scourge Of Mankind.

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

No Man Has Done Everything He Can Who Has Done Only His Best.

It Is Wonderful How Much May Be Done If We Are Always Doing.

An Elective Despotism Was Not The Government We Fought For, But One Which Should Not Only Be Founded On True Free Principles, But In Which The Powers Of Government Should Be So Divided And Balanced Among General Bodies Of Magistracy, As That No One Could Transcend Their Legal Limits Without Being Effectually Checked And Restrained By The Others.

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

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

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.

Never Spend Your Money Before You Have Earned It.

If You Have To Eat Crow, Eat It While It's Young And Tender.

The Further The Departure From Direct And Constant Control By The Citizens, The Less Has The Government Of The Ingredient Of Republicanism.

We Did Not Raise Armies For Glory Or For Conquest.

There Is A Natural Aristocracy Among Men. The Grounds Of This Are Virtue And Talents.

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

The Spirit Of The Times May Alter, Will Alter. Our Rulers Will Become Corrupt, Our People Careless... From The Conclusion Of This War We Shall Be Going Downhill. It Will Not Then Be Necessary To Resort Every Moment To The People For Support. They Will Be Forgotten, Therefore, And Their Rights Disregarded. They Will Forget Themselves, But In The Sole Faculty Of Making Money, And Will Never Think Of Uniting To Affect A Due Respect For Their Rights. The Shackles, Therefore, Will Be Made Heavier And Heavier, Till Our Rights Shall Revive Or Expire In A Convulsion.

Never Use Two Words When One Will Do.

Equal And Exact Justice To All Men, Of Whatever State Or Persuasion.

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[.

The Legitimate Powers Of Government Extend To Such Acts Only As Are Injurious To Others.

Every Man Has Two Countries: His Own And France.

Countries Of The World

No Government Can Continue Good, But Under The Control Of The People.

All Power Is Inherent In The People.

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

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.

I Am Not An Advocate For Frequent Changes In Laws And Constitutions. But Laws And Institutions Must Go Hand In Hand With The Progress Of The Human Mind. As That Becomes More Developed, More Enlightened, 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. We Might As Well Require A Man To Wear Still The Coat Which Fitted Him When A Boy As Civilized Society To Remain Ever Under The Regimen Of Their Barbarous Ancestors.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Freedom Of Speech

The Sun - My Almighty Physician.

To Every Obstacle Oppose Patience, Perseverance And Soothing Language.

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.

Louisiana, As Ceded By France To The United States, Is Made A Part Of The United States; Its White Inhabitants Shall Be Citizens, And Stand, As To Their Rights And Obligations, On The Same Footing With Other Citizens Of The United States, In Analogous Situations.

I Have A Right To Nothing Which Another Has A Right To Take Away.

Truth Is Great And Will Prevail If Left To Herself.

Church And State

Without Health There Is No Happiness. An Attention To Health, Then, Should Take The Place Of Every Other Object.

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

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

In Our Early Struggles For Liberty, Religious Freedom Could Not Fail To Become A Primary Object.

Every State Has A Natural Right In Cases Not Within The Compact (casus Non Faederis) To Nullify Of Their Own Authority All Assumptions Of Power By Others Within Their Limits. Without This Right, They Would Be Under The Dominion, Absolute And Unlimited, Of Whosoever Might Exercise This Right Of Judgment For Them.

[n Regard To Jesus Believing Himself Inspired] This Belief Carried No More Personal Imputation Than The Belief Of Socrates That He Was Under The Care And Admonition Of A Guardian Demon. And How Many Of Our Wisest Men Still Believe In The Reality Of These Inspirations While Perfectly Sane On All Other Subjects

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

One Of My Favorite Ideas Is, Never To Keep An Unnecessary Soldier.

Games Played With The Ball, And Others Of That Nature, Are Too Violent For The Body And Stamp No Character On The Mind.

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

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident, That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Inalienable Rights, Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness, That To Secure These Rights Governments Are Instituted Among Men. We...solemnly Publish And Declare, That These Colonies Are And Of A Right Ought To Be Free And Independent States...and For The Support Of This Declaration, With A Firm Reliance On The Protection Of Divine Providence, We Mutually Pledge Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honour.

Pursuit Of Happiness

The Most Uninformed Mind With A Healthy Body Is Happier Than The Wisest Valetudinarian.

It Is An Essential Attribute Of The Jurisdiction Of Every Country To Preserve Peace, To Punish Acts In Breach Of It, And To Restore Property Taken By Force Within Its Limits.

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

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.

The Ultimate Arbiter Is The People Of The Union.

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

What Country Before Ever Existed A Century And A Half Without A Rebellion? And What Country Can Preserve Its Liberties If Their Rulers Are Not Warned From Time To Time That Their People Preserve The Spirit Of Resistance? Let Them Take Arms. The Remedy Is To Set Them Right As To Facts, Pardon And Pacify Them. What Signify A Few Lives Lost In A Century Or Two? The Tree Of Liberty Must Be Refreshed From Time To Time With The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants. It Is Its Natural Manure.

I Am Not Myself Apt To Be Alarmed At Innovations Recommended By Reason. That Dread Belongs To Those Whose Interests Or Prejudices Shrink From The Advance Of Truth And Science.

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.

The Colleges Of Edinburgh And Geneva As Seminaries Of Science, Are Considered As The Two Eyes Of Europe. While Great Britain And America Give The Preference To The Former, All Other Countries Give It To The Latter.

It Has Been A Source Of Great Pain To Me To Have Met With So Many Among [my] Opponents Who Had Not The Liberality To Distinguish Between Political And Social Opposition; Who Transferred At Once To The Person, The Hatred They Bore To His Political Opinions.

Political Opinions

But The Chief Justice Says, 'there Must Be An Ultimate Arbiter Somewhere.' True, There Must; But Does That Prove It Is Either Party? The Ultimate Arbiter Is The People Of The Union, Assembled By Their Deputies In Convention, At The Call Of Congress Or Of Two-thirds Of The States. Let Them Decide To Which They Mean To Give An Authority Claimed By Two Of Their Organs. And It Has Been The Peculiar Wisdom And Felicity Of Our Constitution, To Have Provided This Peaceable Appeal, Where That Of Other Nations Is At Once To Force.

An Occasional Insurrection Will Not Weigh Against The Inconveniences Of A Government Of Force, Such As Are Monarchies And Aristocracies.

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.

The Failure Of One Thing Is Repaired By The Success Of Another.

Nothing But A Necessity Invincible By Any Other Means Can Justify ... A Prostitution Of Laws, Which Constitute The Pillars Of Our Whole System Of Jurisprudence.

This Formidable Censor Of The Public Functionaries [the Press], By Arraigning Them At The Tribunal Of Public Opinion, Produces Reform Peaceably, Which Must Otherwise Be Done By Revolution. It Is Also The Best Instrument For Enlightening The Mind Of Man And Improving Him As A Rational, Moral, And Social Being.

If Any State In The Union Will Declare That It Prefers Separation... To A Continuance In Union... I Have No Hesitation In Saying, 'let Us Separate.

The Mobs Of Great Cities Add Just So Much To The Support Of Pure Government As Sores Do To The Strength Of The Human Body.

I Had No Idea, However, That In Pennsylvania, The Cradle Of Toleration And Freedom Of Religion, It [fanaticism] Could Have Arisen To The Height You Describe. This Must Be Owing To The Growth Of Presbyterianism. The Blasphemy Of The Five Points Of Calvin, And The Impossibility Of Defending Them, Render Their Advocates Impatient Of Reasoning, Irritable, And Prone To Denunciation.

I Am Sure That In Estimating Every Man's Value Either In Private Or Public Life, A Pure Integrity Is The Quality We Take First Into Calculation, And That Learning And Talents Are Only The Second.

I Have Lived Temperately....i Double The Doctor's Recommendation Of A Glass And A Half Wine Each Day And Even Treble It With A Friend.

You Have Heard Of The New Chemical Nomenclature Endeavored To Be Introduced By Lavoisier, Fourcroy, &c. Other Chemists Of This Country, Of Equal Note, Reject It, And Prove In My Opinion That It Is Premature, Insufficient And False. These Latter Are Joined By The British Chemists; And Upon The Whole, I Think The New Nomenclature Will Be Rejected, After Doing More Harm Than Good. There Are Some Good Publications In It, Which Must Be Translated Into The Ordinary Chemical Language Before They Will Be Useful.

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

Speeches That Are Measured By The Hour Will Die With The Hour.

The Sun Has Not Caught Me In Bed In Fifty Years.

The Sovereign Invigorator Of The Body Is Exercise, And Of All The Exercises Walking Is The Best.

The God Who Gave Us Life, Gave Us Liberty At The Same Time.

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

Peace And Friendship With All Mankind Is Our Wisest Policy, And I Wish We May Be Permitted To Pursue It.

Some Men Look At Constitutions With Sanctimonious Reverence, And Deem Them, Like The Ark Of The Covenant, Too Sacred To Be Touched. They Ascribe To The Men Of The Preceding Age A Wisdom More Than Human, And Suppose What They Did To Be Beyond Amendment. I Knew That Age Well; I Belonged To And Labored With It. It Deserved Well Of Its Country. It Was Very Like The Present, But Without The Experience Of The Present; And Forty Years Of Experience In Government Is Worth A Century Of Book-reading; And This They Would Say Themselves, Were They To Rise From The Dead.

The Children Of Israel In The Wilderness, Led By A Cloud By Day, And A Pillar Of Fire By Night.

The Right To Use A Thing Comprehends A Right To The Means Necessary To Its Use, And Without Which It Would Be Useless.

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

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.

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

To Take A Single Step Beyond The Boundaries Specially Drawn Around The Powers Of Congress Is To Take Possession Of A Boundless Field Of Power, No Longer Susceptible To Definition.

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

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.

Establish The Eternal Truth That Acquiescence Under Insult Is Not The Way To Escape War.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

If Ever We Are Constrained To Lift The Hatchet Against Any Tribe, We Will Never Lay It Down Till That Tribe Is Exterminated, Or Driven Beyond The Mississippi... In War, They Will Kill Some Of Us; We Shall Destroy Them All.

American Indian

It Is Between Fifty And Sixty Years Since I Read It (i.e. The Book Of Revelations), And I Then Considered It Merely The Ravings Of A Maniac, No More Worthy Nor Capable Of Explanation Than The Incoherence Of Our Own Nightly Dreams.

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

As Government Grows, Freedom Recedes.

If The Children Are Untaught, Their Ignorance And Vices Will In Future Life Cost Us Much Dearer In Their Consequences Than It Would Have Done In Their Correction By A Good Education.

I Am Opposed To Any Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man.

The Cornerstone Of Democracy Rests On The Foundation Of An Educated Electorate.

Trending Author

Category