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In A Virtuous Government, And More Especially In Times Like These, Public Offices Are What They Should Be - Burdens To Those Appointed To Them Which It Would Be Wrong To Decline, Though Foreseen To Bring Them Intense Labor And Great Private Loss.

-Thomas Jefferson

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In A Virtuous Government,

Thomas Jefferson

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In A Virtuous Government, And More Especially In Times Like These, Public Offices Are What They Should Be - Burdens To Those Appointed To Them Which It Would Be Wrong To Decline, Though Foreseen To Bring Them Intense Labor And Great Private Loss.

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Times Like These

More From Thomas Jefferson

Nature [has] Implanted In Our Breasts A Love Of Others, A Sense Of Duty To Them, A Moral Instinct, In Short, Which Prompts Us Irresistibly To Feel And To Succor Their Distresses.

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

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

One Generation Cannot Bind Another.

We Are Completely Saddled And Bridled, And... The Bank Is So Firmly Mounted On Us That We Must Go Where It Will Guide.

Most Codes Extend Their Definitions Of Treason To Acts Not Really Against One's Country. They Do Not Distinguish Between Acts Against The Government, And Acts Against The Oppressions Of The Government. The Latter Are Virtues, Yet Have Furnished More Victims To The Executioner Than The Former. Real Treasons Are Rare; Oppressions Frequent. The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.

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.

My General Plan Would Be To Make The States One As To Everything Connected With Foreign Nations And Several As To Everything Purely Domestic.

Whether I Retire To Bed Early Or Late, I Rise With The Sun.

I Was Dupedby The Secretary Of The Treasury [alexander Hamilton], And Made A Fool For Forwarding His Schemes, Not Then Sufficiently Understood By Me; And Of All The Errors Of My Political Life, This Has Occasioned The Deepest Regret.

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.

Men Fight For Freedom; Then They Begin To Accumulate Laws To Take It Away From Themselves.

Good Wine Is A Necessity Of Life For Me.

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.

When Habit Has Strengthened Our Sense Of Duties, They Leave Us No Time For Other Things; But When Young We Neglect Them And This Gives Us Time For Anything.

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.

Newspapers . . . Serve As Chimnies To Carry Off Noxious Vapors And Smoke.

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.

The Tumults In America I Expected Would Have Produced In Europe An Unfavorable Opinion Of Our Political State. But It Has Not. On The Contrary, The Small Effect Of These Tumults Seems To Have Given More Confidence In The Firmness Of Our Governments. The Interposition Of The People Themselves On The Side Of Government Has Had A Great Effect On The Opinion Here In Europe.

Ridicule Is The Only Weapon Which Can Be Used Against Unintelligible Propositions. Ideas Must Be Distinct Before Reason Can Act Upon Them; And No Man Ever Had A Distinct Idea Of The Trinity. It Is The Mere Abracadabra Of The Mountebanks Calling Themselves The Priests Of Jesus.

There Is Preparing, I Hope, Under The Auspices Of Heaven, A Way For A Total Emancipation.

I Tremble For My Country When I Reflect That God Is Just; That His Justice Cannot Sleep Forever.

Paul Was The First Corrupter Of The Doctrines Of Jesus.

Public Employment Contributes Neither To Advantage Nor Happiness. It Is But Honorable Exile From One's Family And Affairs.

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.

If Ever This Vast Country Is Brought Under A Single Government, It Will Be One Of The Most Extensive Corruption.

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

We Have Solved, By Fair Experiment, The Great And Interesting Question Whether Freedom Of Religion Is Compatible With Order In Government And Obedience To The Laws. And We Have Experienced The Quiet As Well As The Comfort Which Results From Leaving Every One To Profess Freely And Openly Those Principles Of Religion Which Are The Inductions Of His Own Reason And The Serious Convictions Of His Own Inquiries.

Nothing Can Be Believed But What One Sees, Or Has From An Eye Witness.

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

Responsibility Is A Tremendous Engine In A Free Government.

Free Government

It Should Be Our Endeavor To Cultivate The Peace And Friendship Of Every Nation, Even Of That Which Has Injured Us Most.

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.

It Is Proof Of Sincerity, Which I Value Above All Things; As, Between Those Who Practice It, Falsehood And Malice Work Their Efforts In Vain.

We Act Not For Ourselves But For The Whole Human Race. The Event Of Our Experiment Is To Show Whether Man Can Be Trusted With Self - Government.

The Art Of Governing Consists Simply Of Being Honest, Exercising Common Sense, Following Principle, And Doing What Is Right And Just.

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

. . . In The Full Tide Of Successful Experiment.

One Precedent In Favor Of Power Is Stronger Than A Hundred Against It.

[states And The Federal Government Are] Coordinate Departments Of One Simple And Integral Whole... The One Is The Domestic, The Other The Foreign Branch Of The Same Government.

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

Man Is An Imitative Animal. This Quality Is The Germ Of All Education In Him. From His Cradle To His Grave He Is Learning To Do What He Sees Others Do.

Christian Creeds And Doctrines, The Clergy's Own Fatal Inventions, Through All The Ages Has Made Of Christendom A Slaughterhouse, And Divided It Into Sects Of Inextinguishable Hatred For One Another.

The Wisdom Of Our Ages And The Blood Of Our Heroes Has Been Devoted To The Attainment Of Trial By Jury. It Should Be The Creed Of Our Political Faith.

When Angry Count To Ten Before You Speak. If Very Angry, Count To One Hundred.

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.

Those Are Governed Best Who Are Governed Least.

If The Measures Which Have Been Pursued Are Approved By The Majority, It Is The Duty Of The Minority To Acquiesce And Conform.

But A Short Time Elapsed After The Death Of The Great Reformer Of The Jewish Religion, Before His Principles Were Departed From By Those Who Professed To Be His Special Servants, And Perverted Into An Engine For Enslaving Mankind, And Aggrandizing Their Oppressors In Church And State.

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

Man, Once Surrendering His Reason, Has No Remaining Guard Against Absurdities The Most Monstrous. . . .

There Is No Habit You Will Value So Much As That Of Walking Far Without Fatigue.

Laws ... Proportionate And Mild Should Never Be Dispensed With. Let Mercy Be The Character Of The Law-giver, But Let The Judge Be A Mere Machine.

A Determination Never To Do What Is Wrong, Prudence, And Good-humor, Will Go Far Toward Securing To You The Estimation Of The World.

We Established However Some, Although Not All Its [self-government] Important Principles . The Constitutions Of Most Of Our States Assert, That All Power Is Inherent In The People; That They May Exercise It By Themselves, In All Cases To Which They Think Themselves Competent, (as In Electing Their Functionaries Executive And Legislative, And Deciding By A Jury Of Themselves, In All Judiciary Cases In Which Any Fact Is Involved,) Or They May Act By Representatives, Freely And Equally Chosen; That It Is Their Right And Duty To Be At All Times Armed.

He Who Receives An Idea From Me, Receives Instruction Himself Without Lessening Mine; As He Who Lights His Taper At Mine, Receives Light Without Darkening Me.

Travelling. ... When Men Of Sober Age Travel, They Gather Knowlege Which They May Apply Usefully For Their Country

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

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

To Seek Out The Best [persons To Serve In The Government] Though The Whole Union, We Must Resort To The Information Which From The Best Of Men, Acting Disinterestedly And With Ther Purest Motives, Is Something Incorrect....no Duty The Executive Had To Perform Was So Trying As To Put The Right Man In The Right Place.

Laws Abridging The Natural Right Of The Citizen Should Be Restrained By Rigorous Constructions Within Their Narrowest Limits.

It Is Not Too Soon To Provide By Every Possible Means That As Few As Possible Shall Be Without A Little Portion Of Land. The Small Landholders Are The Most Precious Part Of A State.

Well Aware That The Opinions And Belief Of Men Depend Not On Their Own Will, But Follow Involuntarily The Evidence Proposed To Their Minds; That Almighty God Hath Created The Mind Free, And Manifested His Supreme Will That Free It Shall Remain By Making It Altogether Insusceptible Of Restraint; That All Attempts To Influence It By Temporal Punishments, Or Burthens, Or By Civil Incapacitations, Tend Only To Beget Habits Of Hypocrisy And Meanness, And Are A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion.

Where Everyman Is Participator In The Government Of Affairs, Not Merely At An Election One Day In The Year But Everyday, He Will Let The Heart Be Torn Out Of His Body Sooner Than His Power Be Wrested From Him By A Caesar Or A Bonaparte.

They Are Nations Of Eternal War. All Their Energies Are Expended In The Destruction Of The Labor, Property, And Lives Of Their People.

I Considered 4 Of These Bills [of The Revised Code Of Virginia] As Forming A System By Which Every Fibre Would Be Eradicated Of Antient Or Future Aristocracy; And A Foundation Laid For A Government Truly Republican.

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.

The Boisterous Sea Of Liberty Is Never Without A Wave.

A Strong Body Makes The Mind Strong.

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.

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.

Every Christian Sect Gives A Great Handle To Atheism By Their General Dogma That, Without A Revelation, There Would Not Be Sufficient Proof Of The Being Of God.

Had The Doctrines Of Jesus Been Preached Always As Pure As They Came From His Lips, The Whole Civilized World Would Now Have Been Christians.

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

There Are Two Amendments Only Which I Am Anxious For: 1. A Bill Of Rights, Which It Is So Much The Interest Of All To Have That I Conceive It Must Be Yielded...2. The Restoring Of The Principle Of Necessary Rotation, Particularly To The Senate And Presidency, But Most Of All To The Last.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

I Would Rather Have Newspapers Without A Government Than A Government Without Newspapers.

...is The Spirit Of The People An Infallible, A Permanent Reliance? ...the Spirit Of The Times May Alter, Will Alter. Our Rulers Will Become Corrupt, Our People Careless.

Experience Has Proved To Us That A Dollar Of Silver Disappears For Every Dollar Of Paper Emitted.

I Have So Much Confidence In The Good Sense Of Man, And His Qualifications For Self-government, That I Am Never Afraid Of The Issue Where Reason Is Left Free To Exert Her Force.

The Protection Of Our Citizens, The Spirit And Honor Of Our Country, Require That Force Should Be Interposed To A Certain Degree.

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

I Am Increasingly Persuaded That The Earth Belongs Exclusively To The Living And That One Generation Has No More Right To Bind Another To It's Laws And Judgments Than One Independent Nation Has The Right To Command Another.

"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."

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.

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

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.

It Is Every Americans' Right And Obligation To Read And Interpret The Constitution For Himself.

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.

Let Common Sense And Common Honesty Have Fair Play, And They Will Soon Set Things To Rights.

...we Are All Federalists,and We Are All Republicans.

I Think All The World Would Gain By Setting Commerce At Perfect Liberty.

I See,... And With The Deepest Affliction, The Rapid Strides With Which The Federal Branch Of Our Government Is Advancing Towards The Usurpation Of All The Rights Reserved To The States, And The Consolidation In Itself Of All Powers, Foreign And Domestic; And That, Too, By Constructions Which, If Legitimate, Leave No Limits To Their Power... It Is But Too Evident That The Three Ruling Branches Of [the Federal Government] Are In Combination To Strip Their Colleagues, The State Authorities, Of The Powers Reserved By Them, And To Exercise Themselves All Functions Foreign And Domestic.

There Is Not One Redeeming Feature In Our Superstition Of Christianity. It Has Made One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites.

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.

Amplification Is The Vice Of Modern Oratory. It Is An Insult To An Assembly Of Reasonable Men, Disgusting And Revolting Instead Ofpersuading. Speeches Measured By The Hour, Die By The Hour.

The Excellence Of Every Government Is Its Adaptation To The State Of Those To Be Governed By It.

I Find That The Harder I Work, The More Luck I Seem To Have.

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

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.

A Government Is Republican In Proportion As Every Member Composing It Has His Equal Voice In The Direction Of Its Concerns, Not Indeed In Person, Which Would Be Impracticable Beyond The Limits Of A City Or Small Township, But By Representatives Chosen By Himself And Responsible To Him At Short Periods.

A Nation, As A Society, Forms A Moral Person, And Every Member Of It Is Personally Responsible For His Society.

Drawing ... Is An Innocent & Engaging Amusement, Often Useful, And A Qualification Not To Be Neglected In One Who Is To Become A Mother & An Instructor.

Truth Will Do Well Enough If Left To Shift For Herself. She Seldom Has Received Much Aid From The Power Of Great Men To Whom She Is Rarely Known And Seldom Welcome. She Has No Need Of Force To Procure Entrance Into The Minds Of Men.

The Functionaries Of Every Government Have Propensities To Command At Will The Liberty And Property Of Their Constituents. There Is No Safe Deposit For These But With The People Themselves, Nor Can They Be Safe With Them Without Information. Where The Press Is Free, And Every Man Able To Read, All Is Safe.

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.

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

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

Government Is Being Founded On Opinion, The Opinion Of The Public, Even When It Is Wrong, Ought To Be Respected To A Certain Degree.

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 Patient, Treated On The Fashionable Theory, Sometimes Gets Well In Spite Of The Medicine.

Where The Law Of The Majority Ceases To Be Acknowledged, There Government Ends; The Law Of The Strongest Takes Its Place, And Life And Property Are His Who Can Take Them.

An Acre Of The Best Ground For Hemp, Is To Be Selected And Sewn In Hemp And Be Kept For A Permanent Hemp Patch.

Sometimes It Is Said That Man Cannot Be Trusted With The Government Of Himself. Can He, Then Be Trusted With The Government Of Others? Or Have We Found Angels In The Form Of Kings To Govern Him? Let History Answer This Question.

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

I Am Convinced That Those Societies (such As The Native American Peoples) Which Live Without Government Enjoy In Their General Mass An Infinitely Greater Degree Of Happiness Than Those Who Live Under The European Governments. Among The Former, Public Opinion Is In The Place Of Law, & Restrains Morals As Powerfully As Laws Ever Did Anywhere. Among The Latter, Under Pretence Of Governing They Have Divided Their Nations Into Two Classes, Wolves & Sheep. I Do Not Exaggerate.

Native American

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.

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.

[t]he Opinion Which Gives To The Judges The Right To Decide What Laws Are Constitutional And What Not, Not Only For Themselves, In Their, Own Sphere Of Action, But For The Legislature And Executive Also In Their Spheres, Would Make The Judiciary A Despotic Branch.

I Can Never Fear That Things Will Go Far Wrong Where Common Sense Has Fair Play.

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.

You See I Am An Enthusiast On The Subject Of The Arts. But It Is An Enthusiasm Of Which I Am Not Ashamed, As Its Object Is To Improve The Taste Of My Countrymen, To Increase Their Reputation, To Reconcile To Them The Respect Of The World, And Procure Them Its Praise.

For If One Link In Nature's Chain Might Be Lost, Another Might Be Lost, Until The Whole Of Things Will Vanish By Piecemeal.

Give Up Money, Give Up Fame, Give Up Science, Give The Earth Itself And All It Contains Rather Than Do An Immoral Act. And Never Suppose That In Any Possible Situation, Or Under Any Circumstances, It Is Best For You To Do A Dishonorable Thing, However Slightly So It May Appear To You.

When An Instrument Admits Two Constructions, The One Safe, The Other Dangerous, The One Precise, The Other Indefinite, I Prefer That Which Is Safe And Precise.

Time Indeed Changes Manners And Notions, And So Far We Must Expect Institutions To Bend To Them. But Time Produces Also Corruption Of Principles, And Against This It Is The Duty Of Good Citizens To Be Ever On The Watch, And If The Gangrene Is To Prevail At Last, Let The Day Be Kept Off As Long As Possible.

The Gothic Idea That We Were To Look Backwards Instead Of Forwards For The Improvement Of The Human Mind, And To Recur To The Annals Of Our Ancestors For What Is Most Perfect In Government, In Religion And In Learning, Is Worthy Of Those Bigots In Religion And Government By Whom It Has Been Recommended, And Whose Purposes It Would Answer. But It Is Not An Idea Which This Country Will Endure.

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.

If We Are Made In Some Degree For Others, Yet In A Greater Are We Made For Ourselves. It Were Contrary To Feeling And Indeed Ridiculous To Suppose That A Man Had Less Rights In Himself Than One Of His Neighbors, Or Indeed All Of Them Put Together. This Would Be Slavery, And Not That Liberty Which The Bill Of Rights Has Made Inviolable, And For The Preservation Of Which Our Government Has Been Charged.

But, You May Ask, If The Two Departments [i.e., Federal And State] Should Claim Each The Same Subject Of Power, Where Is The Common Umpire To Decide Ultimately Between Them? In Cases Of Little Importance Or Urgency, The Prudence Of Both Parties Will Keep Them Aloof From The Questionable Ground; But If It Can Neither Be Avoided Nor Compromised, A Convention Of The States Must Be Called To Ascribe The Doubtful Power To That Department Which They May Think Best.

Motherhood Is The Keystone Of The Arch Of Matrimonial Happiness.

I Hope The Necessity Will At Length Be Seen Of Establishing Institutions, Here As In Europe, Where Every Branch Of Science, Useful At This Day, May Be Taught In It's Highest Degrees.

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.

An Honest Heart Being The First Blessing, A Knowing Head Is The Second.

The Christian Religion Is The Best Religion That Has Ever Been Given To Man

[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

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.

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.

If We Did A Good Act Merely From Love Of God And A Belief That It Is Pleasing To Him, Whence Arises The Morality Of The Atheist? ...their Virtue, Then, Must Have Had Some Other Foundation Than The Love Of God.

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.

The Whole Art Of Government Consists In The Art Of Being Honest.

The Idea Of Creating A National Bank I Do Not Concur In, Because It Seems Now Decided That Congress Has Not That Power (although I Sincerely Wish They Had It Exclusively), And Because I Think There Is Already A Vast Redundancy Rather Than A Scarcity Of Paper Medium.

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

The Way To Silence Religious Disputes Is To Take No Notice Of Them.

To Your Request Of My Opinion Of The Manner In Which A Newspaper Should Be Conducted, So As To Be Most Useful, I Should Answer, "by Restraining It To True Facts & Sound Principles Only." Yet I Fear Such A Paper Would Find Few Subscribers. It Is A Melancholy Truth, That A Suppression Of The Press Could Not More Completely Deprive The Nation Of It's Benefits, Than Is Done By It's Abandoned Prostitution To Falsehood.

I Have Never Been Able To Conceive How Any Rational Being Could Propose Happiness To Himself From The Exercise Of Power Over Others... An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens.... Power Is Not Alluring To Pure Minds And Is Not With Them The Primary Principle Of Contest.

The Suppression Of Unnecessary Offices, Of Useless Establishments And Expenses Enabled Us To Discontinue Our Internal Taxes. These Covering Our Land With Officers, And Opening Our Doors To Their Intrusions, Had Already Begun That Process Of Domiciliary Vexation Which, Once Entered, Is Scarcely To Be Restrained From Reaching Successively Every Article Of Produce And Property.

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.

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

Bad Relationship

We Will Be Soldiers, So Our Sons May Be Farmers, So Their Sons May Be Artists

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

The Great Cause Which Divides Our Countries Is Not To Be Decided By Individual Animosities. The Harmony Of Private Societies Cannot Weaken National Efforts.

Wine Brightens The Life And Thinking Of Anyone

Errors Of Opinion May Be Tolerated Where Reason Is Left Free To Combat It.

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.

I See The Necessity Of Sacrificing Our Opinions Sometimes To The Opinions Of Others For The Sake Of Harmony.

If We Are To Guard Against Ignorance And Remain Free, It Is The Responsibility Of Every American To Be Informed.

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.

I Like The Power Given The Legislature To Levy Taxes, And For That Reason Solely Approve Of The Greater House Being Chosen By The People Directly.

A Share In The Sovereignty Of The State, Which Is Exercised By The Citizens At Large, In Voting At Elections Is One Of The Most Important Rights Of The Subject, And In A Republic Ought To Stand Foremost In The Estimation Of The Law.

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

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

God Forbid We Should Ever Be Twenty Years Without Such A Rebellion... We Have Had Thirteen States Independent For Eleven Years. There Has Been One Rebellion. That Comes To One Rebellion In A Century And A Half, For Each State. What Country Before Ever Existed A Century And A Half Without A Rebellion.

I Hope The Terms Of Excellency, Honor, Worship, Esquire, Forever Disappear From Among Us... I Wish That Of Mr. Would Follow Them.

Sensibility Of Mind Is Indeed The Parent Of Every Virtue, But It Is The Parent Of Much Misery, Too.

To Take A Single Step Beyond The Text Would Be To Take Possession Of A Boundless Field Of Power.

Who Better To So Softly Bind The Wound Of One, Than She Who Has Suffered The Wound Herself.

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

Take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle.

In The Spring He Will Attend Your Botanical Course. His Natural Turn Is Very Strongly To The Objects Of Your Two Courses Of Lectures, And I Hope You Will Have Reason To Be Contended With His Capacity & Character.

A Single Good Government Is A Blessing To The Whole Earth.

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

I Prefer The Tumult Of Liberty To The Quiet Of Servitude

When Sins Are Dear To Us We Are Too Prone To Slide Into Them Again. The Act Of Repentance Itself Is Often Sweetened With The Thought That It Clears Our Account For A Repetition Of The Same Sin.

The Merchants Will Manage [commerce] The Better, The More They Are Left Free To Manage For Themselves.

Never Trouble Another For What You Can Do Yourself

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

When Tyranny Becomes Law, Rebellion Becomes Duty.

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

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.

Neither Believe Nor Reject Any Thing Because Any Other Person, Or Description Of Persons Have Rejected Or Believed It. Your Own Reason Is The Only Oracle Given You By Heaven.

Earnestly Recommended To All Officers And Soldiers, Diligently To Attend Divine Services.

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.

The Dead Should Not Rule The Living

But Every Difference Of Opinion Is Not A Difference Of Principle.

I Am Already Sensible Of Decay In The Power Of Walking, And Find My Memory Not So Faithful As It Used To Be. This May Be Partly Owing To The Incessant Current Of New Matter Flowing Constantly Through It; But I Ascribe To Years Their Share In It Also.

Material Abundance Without Character Is The Surest Way To Destruction.

Communities Should Be Planned With An Eye To The Effect On The Human Spirit Of Being Continually Surrounded By A Maximum Of Beauty.

The Only Way To Win Money Out Of A Casino Is To Own One.

The States Should Be Watchful To Note Every Material Usurpation On Their Rights; To Denounce Them As They Occur In The Most Peremptory Terms; To Protest Against Them As Wrongs To Which Our Present Submission Shall Be Considered, Not As Acknowledgments Or Precedents Of Rights, But As A Temporary Yielding To The Lesser Evil, Until Their Accumulation Shall Overweigh That Of Separation.

Take Painsto Write A Neat Round, Plain Hand, And You Will Find It A Great Convenience Through Life To Write A Small And Compact Hand As Well As A Fair And Legible One.

The Happiness Of The Domestic Fireside Is The First Boon Of Heaven; And It Is Well It Is So, Since It Is That Which Is The Lot Of The Mass Of Mankind.

Do Not Be Too Severe Upon The Errors Of The People, But Reclaim Them By Enlightening Them.

With The Same Honest Views, The Most Honest Men Often Form Different Conclusions.

I Set Out On This Ground Which I Suppose To Be Self-evident, That The Earth Belongs In Usufruct To The Living. . . . We Seem Not To Perceive That, By The Law Of Nature, One Generation Is To Another As One Independent Nation Is To Another. . . . The Earth Belongs Always To The Living Generations.

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