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I Think Myself That We Have More Machinery Of Government Than Is Necessary, Too Many Parasites Living On The Labor Of The Industrious. Government Big Enough To Supply Everything You Need Is Big Enough To Take Everything You Have ... The Course Of History Shows That As A Government Grows, Liberty Decreases. The Two Enemies Of The People Are Criminals And Government, So Let Us Tie The Second Down With The Chains Of The Constitution So The Second Will Not Become The Legalized Version Of The First.

-Thomas Jefferson

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I Think Myself That

Thomas Jefferson

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I Think Myself That We Have More Machinery Of Government Than Is Necessary, Too Many Parasites Living On The Labor Of The Industrious. Government Big Enough To Supply Everything You Need Is Big Enough To Take Everything You Have ... The Course Of History Shows That As A Government Grows, Liberty Decreases. The Two Enemies Of The People Are Criminals And Government, So Let Us Tie The Second Down With The Chains Of The Constitution So The Second Will Not Become The Legalized Version Of The First.

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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.

With Earnest Prayers To All My Friends To Cherish Mutual Good Will, To Promote Harmony And Conciliation, And Above All Things To Let The Love Of Our Country Soar Above All Minor Passions, I Tender You The Assurance Of My Affectionate Esteem And Respect.

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

Specie [gold And Silver Coin] Is The Most Perfect Medium Because It Will Preserve Its Own Level; Because, Having Intrinsic And Universal Value, It Can Never Die In Our Hands, And It Is The Surest Resource Of Reliance In Time Of War.

During The Late War I Had An Infallible Rule For Deciding What Great Britain Would Do On Every Occasion. It Was, To Consider What They Ought To Do, And To Take The Reverse Of That As What They Would Assuredly Do, And I Can Say With Truth That I Was Never Deceived.

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.

Every Human Being Must Be Viewed According To What It Is Good For. For Not One Of Us, No, Not One, Is Perfect. And Were We To Love None Who Had Imperfection, This World Would Be A Desert For Our Love.

It Is Better To Have No Ideas Than False Ones.

The Greatest Service Which Can Be Rendered Any Country Is To Add A Useful Plant To Its Culture. --the Fruit Hunters

No Person Shall Be Restrained Of His Liberty But By Regular Process From A Court Of Justice, Authorized By A General Law. . . . On Complaint Of An Unlawful Imprisonment To Any Judge Whatsoever, He Shall Have The Prisoner Immediately Brought Before Him And Shall Discharge Him If His Imprisonment Be Unlawful. The Officer In Whose Custody The Prisoner Is Shall Obey The Order Of The Judge, And Both Judge And Officer Shall Be Responsible Civilly And Criminally For A Failure Of Duty Herein.

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.

No Duty The Executive Had To Perform Was So Trying As To Put The Right Man In The Right Place.

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.

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

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

If The Book Be False In Its Facts, Disprove Them; If False In Its Reasoning, Refute It. But, For God's Sake, Let Us Freely Hear Both Sides, If We Choose.

Political Differences

All The Capital Employed In Paper Speculation Is Barren And Useless, Producing, Like That On A Gaming Table, No Accession To Itself, And Is Withdrawn From Commerce And Agriculture Where It Would Have Produced Addition To The Common Mass It Nourishes In Our Citizens Habits Of Vice And Idleness Instead Of Industry And Morality It Has Furnished Effectual Means Of Corrupting Such A Portion Of The Legislature As Turns The Balance Between The Honest Voters Whichever Way It Is Directed.

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.

[t]he Dignity Of Parliament It Seems Can Brook No Opposition To It's Power. Strange That A Set Of Men Who Have Made Sale Of Theirvirtue To The Minister Should Yet Talk Of Retaining Dignity!

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

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

One Man With Courage Is A Majority.

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 Themselves They Fought, For Themselves They Conquered, And For Themselves Alone They Have They Have Right To Hold.

Travelling Is Good For Your Health And Necessary For Your Amusement.

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.

A Strong Body Makes The Mind Strong.

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.

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.

Public Offices Were Not Made For Private Convenience.

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.

Never Use Two Words When One Will Do.

That One Hundred And Fifty Lawyers Should Do Business Together Ought Not To Be Expected.

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.

The Course Of History Shows That As A Government Grows, Liberty Decreases.

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.

Female Education ... Has Occupied My Attention So Far Only As The Education Of My Own Daughters ... I Thought It Essential To Give Them A Solid Education Which Might Enable Them, When Become Mothers, To Educate Their Own Daughters, And Even To Direct The Course For Sons, Should Their Fathers Be.

Ministers Of The Gospel Are Excluded [from Serving As Visitors Of The County Elementary Schools] To Avoid Jealousy From The Other Sects, Were The Public Education Committed To The Ministers Of A Particular One; And With More Reason Than In The Case Of Their Exclusion From The Legislative And Executive Functions.

Is Uniformity Of Opinion Desirable? No More Than That Of Face And Stature.

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

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.

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

Here Was Buried Thomas Jefferson, Author Of The Declaration Of American Independence, Of The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom, And Father Of The University Of Virginia.

But Though An Old Man, I Am But A Young Gardener.

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.

I Have Been Happy . . . In Believing That . . . Whatever Follies We May Be Led Into As To Foreign Nations, We Shall Never Give Up Our Union, The Last Anchor Of Our Hope, And That Alone Which Is To Prevent This Heavenly Country From Becoming An Arena Of Gladiators.

Ours Are The Only Farmers Who Can Read Homer

A Free People [claim] Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.

Ignorance Is A Poor Tool In A Battle Of Wits.

The General (federal) Government Will Tend To Monarchy, Which Will Fortify Itself From Day To Day, Instead Of Working Its Own Cures.

It Is Wonderful To Me That Old Men Should Not Be Sensible That Their Minds Keep Pace With Their Bodies In The Progress Of Decay.

Every Man Cannot Have His Way In All Things. If His Opinion Prevails At Some Times, He Should Acquiesce On Seeing That Of Others Preponderate At Other Times. Without This Mutual Disposition We Are Disjointed Individuals, But Not A Society.

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

The Tender Breasts Of Ladies Were Not Formed For Political Convulsion.

The Law Of Self-preservation Is Higher Than Written Law.

He Does Most In God's Great World Who Does His Best In His Own Little World.

It Is A Cruel Thought, That, When We Feel Ourselves Standing On The Firmest Ground In Every Respect, The Cursed Arts Of Our Secret Enemies, Combining With Other Causes, Should Effect, By Depreciating Our Money, What The Open Arms Of A Powerful Enemy Could Not.

It Is A Problem, Not Clear In My Mind, That [a Society Without Government, As Among Our Indians] Is Not The Best. But I Believe It To Be Inconsistent With Any Great Degree Of Population.

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

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

I Thank Heaven That The 4th. Of July Is Over. It Is Always A Day Of Great Fatigue To Me, And Of Some Embarrassments From Improper Intrusions And Some From Unintended Exclusions.

If We Could Believe That Jesus...countenanced The Follies, Falsehoods And Charlatanisms Which His Biographers Father On Him, ...the Conclusion Would Be Irresistible...that He Was An Imposter.

Our People Shall Be Free

History, In General, Only Informs Us Of What Bad Government Is.

Men Of Energy Of Character Must Have Enemies; Because There Are Two Sides To Every Question, And Taking One With Decision, And Acting On It With Effect, Those Who Take The Other Will Of Course Be Hostile In Proportion As They Feel That Effect.

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.

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

I Learn With Great Concern That [one] Portion Of Our Frontier So Interesting, So Important, And So Exposed, Should Be So Entirely Unprovided With Common Fire-arms. I Did Not Suppose Any Part Of The United States So Destitute Of What Is Considered As Among The First Necessaries Of A Farm-house.

Everyone Has A Natural Right To Choose That Vocation In Life Which He Thinks Most Likely Gives Him Comfortable Subsistence.

Your Own Reason Is The Only Oracle Given You By Heaven, And You Are Answerable For, Not The Rightness, But The Uprightness Of The Decision

But With Respect To Future Debt; Would It Not Be Wise And Just For That Nation To Declare In The Constitution They Are Forming That Neither The Legislature, Nor The Nation Itself Can Validly Contract More Debt, Than They May Pay Within Their Own Age, Or Within The Term Of 19 Years.

A Private Central Bank Issuing The Public Currency Is A Greater Menace To The Liberties Of The People Than A Standing Army. We Must Not Let Our Rulers Load Us With Perpetual Debt.

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

Native Language

[a] Spirit Of Justice And Friendly Accomodation...is Our Duty And Our Interest To Cultivate With All Nations.

The Dominion Which The Banking Institutions Have Obtained Over The Minds Of Our Citizens...must Be Broken, Or It Will Break Us.

Industry, Commerce And Security Are The Surest Roads To The Happiness And Prosperity Of People.

If A Due Participation Of Office Is A Matter Of Right, How Are Vacancies To Be Obtained? Those By Death Are Few; By Resignation, None.

Perseverance In Object, Though Not By The Most Direct Way, Is Often More Laudable Than Perpetual Changes, As Often As The Object Shifts Light.

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

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.

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

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

It Is In Our Lives And Not Our Words That Our Religion Must Be Read.

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

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.

Men As Well As Rivers Grow Crooked By Following The Path Of Least Resistance.

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.

I Never Before Knew The Full Value Of Trees. Under Them I Breakfast, Dine, Write, Read And Receive My Company.

The Spirit Of This Country Is Totally Adverse To A Large Military Force.

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

I Have Sometimes Asked Myself Whether My Country Is The Better For My Having Lived At All? I Do Not Know That It Is. I Have Been The Instrument Of Doing The Following Things; But They Would Have Been Done By Others; Some Of Them, Perhaps, A Little Better.

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.

With All The Defects In Our Constitution, Whether General Or Particular, The Comparison Of Our Government With Those Of Europe, Is Like A Comparison Of Heaven With Hell. England, Like The Earth, May Be Allowed To Take The Intermediate Station.

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

The Elective Franchise, If Guarded As The Ark Of Our Safety, Will Peaceably Dissipate All Combinations To Subvert A Constitution, Dictated By The Wisdom, And Resting On The Will Of The People.

The Moral Sense, Or Conscience, Is As Much Part Of A Man As His Leg Or Arm. It Is Given To All In A Stronger Or Weaker Degree.. It May Be Strengthened By Exercise.

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

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

Bigotry Is The Disease Of Ignorance, Of Morbid Minds; Enthusiasm Of The Free And Buoyant. Education And Free Discussion Are The Antidotes Of Both.

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.

The Multiplication Of Public Offices, Increase Of Expense Beyond Income, Growth And Entailment Of A Public Debt Are Indications Soliciting The Employment Of The Pruning Knife.

Government Debt

All... Natural Rights May Be Abridged Or Modified In [their] Exercise By Law.

I Like A Little Rebellion Now And Then. It Is Like A Storm In The Atmosphere.

The Opinions And Beliefs Of Men Follow Involuntarily The Evidence Proposed To Their Minds.

Power Is Not Alluring To Pure Minds.

What Is True Of Every Member Of The Society, Individually, Is True Of Them All Collectively; Since The Rights Of The Whole Can Be No More Than The Sum Of The Rights Of The Individuals.

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

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

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

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

Victory And Defeat Are Each Of The Same Price.

Victory And Defeat

How Soon The Labor Of Men Would Make A Paradise Of The Earth Were It Not For Misgovernment And A Diversion Of His Energies To Selfish Interests.

Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People... They Are The Only Sure Reliance For The Preservation Of Our Liberty.

Certainly, No Power To Prescribe Any Religious Exercise, Or To Assume Authority In Religious Discipline, Has Been Delegated To The General Government.

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.

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

I Hold It That A Little Rebellion Now And Then Is A Good Thing, And As Necessary In The Political World As Storms In The Physical.

[t]he People Seem To Have Deposited The Monarchical And Taken Up The Republican Government With As Much Ease As Would Have Attended Their Throwing Off An Old And Putting On A New Suit Of Clothes.

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.

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.

I Shall Rejoin Myself To My Native Country, With New Attachments, And With Exaggerated Esteem For Its Advantages; For Though There Is Less Wealth There, There Is More Freedom, More Ease, And Less Misery.

The Field Of Knolege Is The Common Property Of All Mankind

By... [selecting] The Youths Of Genius From Among The Classes Of The Poor, We Hope To Avail The State Of Those Talents Which Nature Has Sown As Liberally Among The Poor As The Rich, But Which Perish Without Use If Not Sought For And Cultivated.

Religion Is A Subject On Which I Have Ever Been Most Scrupulously Reserved. I Have Considered It As A Matter Between Every Man And His Maker, In Which No Other, And Far Less The Public, Had A Right To Intermeddle.

The Trifling Economy Of Paper, As A Cheaper Medium, Or Its Convenience For Transmission, Weighs Nothing In Opposition To The Advantages Of The Precious Metals It Is Liable To Be Abused, Has Been, Is, And Forever Will Be Abused, In Every Country In Which It Is Permitted.

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.

We Are Sensible Of The Duty And Expediency Of Submitting Our Opinions To The Will Of The Majority, And Can Wait With Patience Till They Get Right If They Happen To Be At Any Time Wrong.

If The Wise Be The Happy Man... He Must Be Virtuous Too; For, Without Virtue, Happiness Cannot Be. This Then Is The True Scope Of All Academical Emulation.

If It Is Believed That These Elementary Schools Will Be Better Managed By The Governor And Council Or Any Other General Authority Of The Government, Than By The Parents Within Each Ward, It Is A Belief Against All Experience.

By Nature's Law, Man Is At Peace With Man Till Some Aggression Is Committed, Which, By The Same Law, Authorizes One To Destroy Another As His Enemy.

[emigrants] Will Bring With Them The Principles Of The Governments They Leave, Imbibed In Their Early Youth; Or, If Able To Throw Off, It Will Be In Exchange For An Unbounded Licentiousness, Passing, As Is Usual, From One Extreme To Another. It Would Be A Miracle Were They To Stop Precisely At The Point Of Temperate Liberty.

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

If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't More People Happy?

Shake Off All The Fears And Servile Prejudices Under Which Weak Minds Are Servilely Crouched. Fix Reason Firmly In Her Seat, And Call To Her Tribunal Every Fact, Every Opinion. Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God; Because, If There Be One, He Must More Approve The Homage Of Reason, Than That Of Blindfolded Fear... Your Own Reason Is The Only Oracle Given You By Heaven, And You Are Answerable Not For The Rightness But Uprightness Of The Decision.

If, In My Retirement To The Humble Station Of A Private Citizen, I Am Accompanied With The Esteem And Approbation Of My Fellow Citizens, Trophies Obtained By The Bloodstained Steel, Or The Tattered Flags Of The Tented Field, Will Never Be Envied. The Care Of Human Life And Happiness, And Not Their Destruction, Is The First And Only Legitimate Object Of Good Government.

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.

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

The Greatest Good We Can Do Our Country Is To Heal Its Party Divisions And Make Them One People.

I Have Ever Judged Of The Religion Of Others By Their Lives. For It Is In Our Lives, And Not From Our Works, That Our Religion Must Be Read.

Free Men Do Not Ask Permission To Bear Arms

I Consider The Doctrines Of Jesus As Delivered By Himself To Contain The Outlines Of The Sublimest System Of Morality That Has Ever Been Taught But I Hold In The Most Profound Detestation And Execration The Corruptions Of It Which Have Been Invented.

The 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.

He Who Made Us Would Have Been A Pitiful Bungler, If He Had Made The Rules Of Our Moral Conduct A Matter Of Science. For One Man Of Science, There Are Thousands Who Are Not. What Would Have Become Of Them? Man Was Destined For Society. His Morality, Therefore, Was To Be Formed To This Object. He Was Endowed With A Sense Of Right And Wrong, Merely Relative To This.

Take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle.

We Must Be Contented To Amuse, When We Cannot Inform.

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

While Prudence Will Endeavor To Avoid This Issue Of War, Bravery Will Prepare To Meet It.

What Has Destroyed Liberty And The Rights Of Man In Every Government Which Has Ever Existed Under The Sun? The Generalizing And Concentrating All Cares And Power Into One Body, No Matter Whether Of The Autocrats Of Russia Or France, Or Of The Aristocrats Of A Venetian Senate.

Agreeable Society Is The First Essential In Constituting The Happiness And Of Course The Value Of Our Existence.

Now I Will Avow, That I Then Believed And Now Believe That Those General Principles Of Christianity Are As Eternal And Immutable As The Existence And Attributes Of God; And That Those Principles Of Liberty Are As Unalterable As Human Nature And Our Terrestrial, Mundane System.

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.

It Is A Wise Rule And Should Be Fundamental In A Government Disposed To Cherish Its Credit, And At The Same Time To Restrain The Use Of It Within The Limits Of Its Faculties, "never To Borrow A Dollar Without Laying A Tax In The Same Instant For Paying The Interest Annually, And The Principal Within A Given Term; And To Consider That Tax As Pledged To The Creditors On The Public Faith."

Dependence Begets Subservience And Paves The Way For Tyranny.

All Through Your Life, You'll Be Faced With Making A Decision Between Two Things-choose The One That Is Right. If They Are Both Right, Then Choose The One That Will Make You Feel The Best About It At The End Of The Day.

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

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.

Instead Of An Aristocracy Of Wealth, Of More Harm And Danger Than Benefit To Society, To Make An Opening For The Aristocracy Of Virtue And Talent, Which Nature Has Wisely Provided For The Direction Of The Interests Of Society And Scattered With Equal Hand Through All Its Conditions, Was Deemed Essential To A Well-ordered Republic.

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 Fore Horse Of This Frightful Team Is Public Debt. Taxation Follow That, And In Its Turn Wretchedness And Oppression.

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

I Believe From What I Have Lately Seen That We Should Be Substantially Safe Were Our Citizens Armed, But We Have Not As Many Arms As We Have Enemies In The State.

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.

How Much Pain They Have Cost Us, The Evils Which Have Never Happened.

I Would Rather Be Exposed To The Inconveniences Attending Too Much Liberty Than Those Attending Too Small A Degree Of It.

I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God Eternal, Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man.

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.

When A Man Assumes A Public Trust He Should Consider Himself A Public Property.

A Superintending Power To Maintain The Universe In Its Course And Order.

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.

Agriculture Is At The Same Time The Most Tranquil, Healthy, And Independent Occupation.

Ridicule Is The Only Weapon Which Can Be Used Against Unintelligible Propositions.

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.

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

The Provisions We Have Made [for Our Government] Are Such As Please Ourselves; They Answer The Substantial Purposes Of Government And Of Justice, And Other Purposes Than These Should Not Be Answered.

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.

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.

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.

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

No Man Will Labor For Himself Who Can Make Another Labor For Him.

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.

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.

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.

No Government Can Continue Good But Under The Control Of The People; And . . . . Their Minds Are To Be Informed By Education What Is Right And What Wrong; To Be Encouraged In Habits Of Virtue And To Be Deterred From Those Of Vice . . . . These Are The Inculcations Necessary To Render The People A Sure Basis For The Structure And Order Of Government.

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

A Rigid Economy Of The Public Contributions And Absolute Interdiction Of All Useless Expenses Will Go Far Towards Keeping The Government Honest And Unoppressive.

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.

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

The Past Stays Put, I Just Keep Moving Farther Away From It.

Lay Down True Principles And Adhere To Them Inflexibly. Do Not Be Frightened Into Their Surrender By The Alarms Of The Timid, Or The Croakings Of Wealth Against The Ascendency Of The People.

The Art Of Life Is The Art Of Avoiding Pain.

A Little Patience, And We Shall See The Reign Of Witches Pass Over, Their Spells Dissolve, And The People, Recovering Their True Sight, Restore Their Government To Its True Principles. 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...if The Game Runs Sometime 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.

I Look To The Diffusion Of Light And Education As The Resource Most To Be Relied On For Ameliorating The Condition, Promoting The Virtue And Advancing The Happiness Of Man.

We Figure Great Careers Aren't Made. They're Experienced.

History, I Believe, Furnishes No Example Of A Priest-ridden People Maintaining A Free Civil Government.

It Has Also Been A Great Solace To Me, To Believe That You Are Engaged In Vindicating To Posterity The Course We Have Pursued For Preserving To Them, In All Their Purity, The Blessings Of Self-government, Which We Had Assisted Too In Acquiring For Them. If Ever The Earth Has Beheld A System Of Administration Conducted With A Single And Steadfast Eye To The General Interest And Happiness Of Those Committed To It, One Which, Protected By Truth, Can Never Know Reproach, It Is That To Which Our Lives Have Been Devoted.

The Principles On Which We Engaged, Of Which The Charter Of Our Independence Is The Record, Were Sanctioned By The Laws Of Our Being, And We But Obeyed Them In Pursuing Undeviatingly The Course They Called For. It Issued Finally In That Inestimable State Of Freedom Which Alone Can Ensure To Man The Enjoyment Of His Equal Rights.

The Natural Aristocracy I Consider As The Most Precious Gift Of Nature For The Instruction, The Trusts, And Government Of Society. And Indeed It Would Have Been Inconsistent In Creation To Have Formed Man For The Social State, And Not To Have Provided Virtue And Wisdom Enough To Manage The Concerns Of The Society. May We Not Even Say That That Form Of Government Is The Best Which Provides The Most - For A Pure Selection Of These Natural Aristoi Into The Offices Of Government?

Everything Is Useful Which Contributes To Fix The Principles And Practices Of Virtue.

I Am Savage Enough To Prefer The Woods, The Wilds, And The Independence Of Monticello, To All The Brilliant Pleasures Of This Gaycapital [paris].

Nature Intended Me For The Tranquil Pursuits Of Science, By Rendering Them My Supreme Delight. But The Enormities Of The Times In Which I Have Lived, Have Forced Me To Take A Part In Resisting Them, And To Commit Myself On The Boisterous Ocean Of Political Passions.

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