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In Every Country Where Man Is Free To Think And To Speak, Difference Of Opinion Will Arise From Difference Of Perception, And The Imperfection Of Reason; But These Differences, When Permitted, As In This Happy Country, To Purify Themselves By Free Discussion, Are But As Passing Clouds Overspreading Our Land Transiently, And Leaving Our Horizon More Bright And Serene.

-Thomas Jefferson

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In Every Country Where

Thomas Jefferson

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In Every Country Where Man Is Free To Think And To Speak, Difference Of Opinion Will Arise From Difference Of Perception, And The Imperfection Of Reason; But These Differences, When Permitted, As In This Happy Country, To Purify Themselves By Free Discussion, Are But As Passing Clouds Overspreading Our Land Transiently, And Leaving Our Horizon More Bright And Serene.

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A Properly Functioning Democracy Depends On An Informed Electorate.

I May Grow Rich By An Art I Am Compelled To Follow; I May Recover Health By Medicines I Am Compelled To Take Against My Own Judgment; But I Cannot Be Saved By A Worship I Disbelieve And Abhor.

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.

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

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.

When We See Ourselves In A Situation Which Must Be Endured And Gone Through, It Is Best To Make Up Our Minds To It, Meet It With Firmness, And Accommodate Everything To It In The Best Way Practicable. This Lessens The Evil; While Fretting And Fuming Only Serves To Increase Your Own Torments.

Truth Between Candid Minds Can Never Do Harm.

Above All Things, And At All Times, Practice Yourself In Good Humor.

Choice By The People Themselves Is Not Generally Distinguished For Its Wisdom.

A System Of General Instruction, Which Shall Reach Every Description Of Our Citizens, From The Richest To The Poorest, As It Was The Earliest, So Will It Be The Latest, Of All The Public Concerns In Which I Shall Permit Myself To Take An Interest.

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.

Force Is The Vital Principle And Immediate Parent Of Despotism.

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

Bad Relationship

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.

It Is A Melancholy Truth, That A Suppression Of The Press Could Not More Completely Deprive The Nation Of Its Benefits Than Is Done By Its Abandoned Prostitution To Falsehood.

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.

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.

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

There Is A Debt Of Service Due From Every Man To His Country, Proportioned To The Bounties Which Nature And Fortune Have Measured To Him.

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

All We Can Do Is To Make The Best Of Our Friends, Love And Cherish What Is Good In Them, And Keep Out Of The Way What Is Bad.

In Matters Of Principle, Stand Like A Rock.

The Liberty Of Speaking And Writing Guards Our Other Liberties.

May It Be To The World... To Assume The Blessings And Security Of Self-government.

Governments Constantly Choose Between Telling Lies And Fighting Wars, With The End Result Always Being The Same. One Will Always Lead To The Other.

What All Agree Upon Is Probably Right; What No Two Agree In Most Probably Is Wrong.

Positive Atheism

If Once The People Become Inattentive To The Public Affairs, You And I, And Congress And Assemblies, Judges And Governors, Shall All Become Wolves. It Seems To Be The Law Of Our General Nature, In Spite Of Individual Exceptions.

The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.

The Issuing Power [of Money] Should Be Taken From The Banks And Restored To The People, To Whom It Properly Belongs.

Democracies Have

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.

To Make Us One Nation As To Foreign Concerns, And Keep Us Distinct In Domestic Ones Gives The Outline Of The Proper Division Of Powers Between The General [national] And Particular [state] Governments.

The Christian God Can Easily Be Pictured As Virtually The Same God As The Many Ancient Gods Of Past Civilizations. The Christian God Is A Three Headed Monster Cruel Vengeful And Capricious. If One Wishes To Know More Of This Raging Three Headed Beast Like God One Only Needs To Look At The Caliber Of People Who Say They Serve Him. They Are Always Of Two Classes Fools And Hypocrites.

A Free Government Is Of All Others The Most Energetic.

Free Government

Religion, Morality, And Knowledge Are Necessary For Good Government... Therefore Schools And The Means Of Educating The People Should Always Be Encouraged.

Nothing Is So Disgusting To Our Sex As Want Of Cleanliness And Delicacy In Yours.

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

I Shall See With Sincere Satisfaction The Progress Of Those Sentiments Which Tend To Restore To Man All His Natural Rights, Convinced He Has No Natural Right In Opposition To His Social Duties.

My Most Earnest Wish Is To See The Republican Element Of Popular Control Pushed To The Maximum Of Its Practicable Exercise. I Shall Then Believe That Our Government May Be Pure And Perpetual.

Lake George Is Without Comparison, The Most Beautiful Water I Ever Saw; Formed By A Contour Of Mountains Into A Basin... Finely Interspersed With Islands, Its Water Limpid As Crystal, And The Mountain Sides Covered With Rich Groves... Down To The Water-edge: Here And There Precipices Of Rock To Checker The Scene And Save It From Monotony.

Our Fellow-citizens Think They Have A Right To Full Information, In A Case Of Such Great Concernment To Them. It Is Their Sweat Which Is To Earn All The Expenses Of The War, And Their Blood Which Is To Flow In Expiation Of The Causes Of It.

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.

Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom. Let It Be Our Endeavor To Merit The Character Of A Just Nation.

I Am Not Among Those Who Fear The People. They, And Not The Rich, Are Our Dependence For Continued Freedom.

Government Debt

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

I Am Conscious That An Equal Division Of Property Is Impracticable, But The Consequences Of This Enormous Inequality Producing So Much Misery To The Bulk Of Mankind, Legislators Cannot Invent Too Many Devices For Subdividing Property.

Having Seen The People Of All Other Nations Bowed Down To The Earth Under The Wars And Prodigalities Of Their Rulers, I Have Cherished Their Opposites, Peace, Economy, And Riddance Of Public Debt, Believing That These Were The High Road To Public As Well As Private Prosperity And Happiness.

Those Who Labor In The Earth Are The Chosen People Of God.

Health Is The Requisite After Morality

When Earth Is Rich It Bids Defiance To Droughts, Yields In Abundance And Of The Best Quality.

For An Unarmed Man May Be Attacked With Greater Confidence Than An Armed Man.

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

I Find The Pain Of A Little Censure, Even When It Is Unfounded, Is More Acute Than The Pleasure Of Much Praise.

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.

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

Any Woodsman Can Tell You That In A Broken And Sundered Nest, One Can Hardly Find More Than A Precious Few Whole Eggs. So It Is With The Family.

It Is Better To Tolerate The Rare Instance Of A Parent Refusing To Let His Child Be Educated, Than To Shock The Common Feelings And Ideas By Forcible Asportation And Education Of The Infant Against The Will Of The Father.

So Much Of The Presidency Is A Matter Of Standing In The Path Of A Newsham Engine For Quenching Fires, Opening One's Mouth, And Attempting To Get A Drink.

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.

One Generation Cannot Bind Another.

Coffee - The Favorite Drink Of The Civilized World.

The Cement Of This Union Is In The Heart Blood Of Every American. I Do Not Believe There Is On Earth A Government Established On So Immovable A Basis.

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

The Legislative Powers Of Government Reach Actions Only And Not Opinions.

The Issue For Patents For New Discovers Has Given A Spring To Invention Beyond My Conception.

The Central Bank Is An Institution Of The Most Deadly Hostility Existing Against The Principles And Form Of Our Constitution.

Bodily Decay Is Gloomy In Prospect, But Of All Human Contemplations The Most Abhorrent Is Body Without Mind.

I Hold It Certain That To Open The Doors Of Truth And To Fortify The Habit Of Testing Everything By Reason Are The Most Effectual Manacles We Can Rivet On The Hands Of Our Successors To Prevent Their Manacling The People With Their Own Consent.

Hindsight Is An Exact Science. Hold Fast To Your Dreams, For It Dreams Die, Life Is A Broken-winged Bird That Cannot Fly. How Much Pain They Have Cost Us, The Evils Which Have Never Happened.

As, For The Safety Of Society, We Commit Honest Maniacs To Bedlam, So Judges Should Be Withdrawn From Their Bench, Whose Erroneous Biases Are Leading Us To Dissolution. It May Indeed Injure Them In Fame Or In Fortune; But It Saves The Republic, Which Is The First And Supreme Law.

Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People.

It Would Reduce The Whole Instrument To A Single Phrase, That Of Instituting A Congress With Power To Do Whatever Would Be For The Good Of The United States; And As They Would Be The Sole Judges Of The Good Or Evil, It Would Be Also A Power To Do Whatever Evil They Please . . . . Certainly No Such Universal Power Was Meant To Be Given Them. It [the Constitution] Was Intended To Lace Them Up Straightly Within The Enumerated Powers And Those Without Which, As Means, These Powers Could Not Be Carried Into Effect.

Every Man Is Under The Natural Duty Of Contributing To The Necessities Of The Society; And This Is All The Laws Should Enforce On Him.

Always Take Hold Of Things By The Smooth Handle.

Nothing Can Now Be Believed That Is Seen In A Newspaper.

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

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.

If Our Country, When Pressed With Wrongs At The Point Of The Bayonet, Had Been Governed By Its Heads Instead Of Its Hearts, Where Should We Have Been Now? Hanging On A Gallows As High As Haman's.

Planting Is One Of My Great Amusements, And Even Of Those Things Which Can Only Be For Posterity, For A Septuagenary Has No Right To Count On Any Thing But Annuals.

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

A Nation's Best Defense Is An Educated Citizenry

An Injured Friend Is The Bitterest Of Foes.

If [god] Has Made It A Law In The Nature Of Man To Pursue His Own Happiness, He Has Left Him Free In The Choice Of Place As Well As Mode, And We May Safely Call On The Whole Body Of English Jurists To Produce The Map On Which Nature Has Traced For Each Individual The Geographical Line Which She Forbids Him To Cross In Pursuit Of Happiness.

Pursuit Of Happiness

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

So Confident Am I In The Intentions, As Well As Wisdom, Of The Government, That I Shall Always Be Satisfied That What Is Not Done, Either Cannot, Or Ought Not To Be Done.

Considering The Great Importance To The Public Liberty Of The Freedom Of The Press, And The Difficulty Of Submitting It To Very Precise Rules, The Laws Have Thought It Less Mischievous To Give Greater Scope To Its Freedom Than To The Restraint Of It.

A True Patriot Will Defend His Country From Its Government.

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[.

Wisdom I Know Is Social. She Seeks Her Fellows. But Beauty Is Jealous, And Illy Bears The Presence Of A Rival.

There Is No King, Who, With Sufficient Force, Is Not Always Ready To Make Himself Absolute.

Tranquility Is The Old Man's Milk.

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 Information Of The People At Large Can Alone Make Them The Safe As They Are The Sole Depositary Of Our Political And Religious Freedom.

The Contest Is Not Between Us And Them, But Between Good And Evil, And If Those Who Would Fight Evil Adopt The Ways Of Evil, Evil Wins.

As You Are Entered With The Class Of Nat. Philosophy, Give To It The Hours Of Lecture, But Devote All Your Other Time To Mathematics, Avoiding Company As The Bane Of All Progress.

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

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

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

The Fantastical Idea Of Virtue And The Public Good Being A Sufficient Security To The State Against The Commission Of Crimes, Which You Say You Have Heard Insisted On By Some, I Assure You Was Never Mine.

The Remaining Revenue On The Consumption Of Foreign Luxuries To Domestic Comforts, Being Collected On Our Seaboard And Frontiers Only, And Incorporated With The Transactions Of Our Mercantile Citizens, It May Be The Pleasure And The Pride Of An American To Ask, What Farmer, What Merchant, What Laborer Ever Sees A Tax Gatherer Of The United States?

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.

It Is Mortifying To Suppose It Possible That A People Able And Zealous To Contend With The Enemy Should Be Reduced To Fold Their Arms For Want Of The Means Of Defence; Yet No Resources That We Know Of, Ensure Us Against This Event.

Government Can Do Something For The People Only In Proportion As It Can Do Something To The People.

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.

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.

‎we Must Make Our Choice Between Economy And Liberty Or Confusion And Servitude...if We Run Into Such Debts, We Must Be Taxed In Our Meat And Drink, In Our Necessities And Comforts, In Our Labor And In Our Amusements...if We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labor Of The People, Under The Pretense Of Caring For Them, They Will Be Happy.

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

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 Tired Of A Life Of Contention, And Of Being The Personal Object For The Hatred Of Every Man, Who Hates The Present State Of Things.

All Things Here Appear To Me To Trudge On In One And The Same Round: We Rise In The Morning That We May Eat Breakfast, Dinner Andsupper And To Bed Again That We May Get Up The Next Morning And Do The Same: So That You Never Saw Two Peas More Alike Than Our Yesterday And To-day.

If The Body Be Feeble, The Mind Will Not Be Strong.

I Have But One System Of Ethics For Men And For Nations - To Be Grateful, To Be Faithful To All Engagements Under All Circumstances, To Be Open And Generous, Promoting In The Long Run Even The Interests Of Both

We Never Repent Of Having Eaten Too Little.

I Considered The British As Our Natural Enemies, And As The Only Nation On Earth Who Wished Us Ill From The Bottom Of Their Souls. And I Am Satisfied That Were Our Continent To Be Swallowed Up By The Ocean, Great Britain Would Be In A Bonfire From One End To The Other.

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

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.

Dispositions Of The Mind, Like Limbs Of The Body, Acquire Strength By Exercise.

If We Are Made In Some Degree For Others, Yet In A Greater Are We Made For Ourselves.

In Every Country Where Man Is Free To Think And To Speak, Difference Of Opinion Will Arise From Difference Of Perception, And The Imperfection Of Reason; But These Differences, When Permitted, As In This Happy Country, To Purify Themselves By Free Discussion, Are But As Passing Clouds Overspreading Our Land Transiently, And Leaving Our Horizon More Bright And Serene.

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.

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 The Game Runs Sometimes Against Us At Home We Must Have Patience Till Luck Turns, And Then We Shall Have An Opportunity Of Winning Back The Principles We Have Lost, For This Is A Game Where Principles Are At Stake.

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 Appointment Of A Woman To Office Is An Innovation For Which The Public Is Not Prepared, Nor I.

Nothing Can Now Be Believed Which Is Seen In A Newspaper. Truth Itself Becomes Suspicious By Being Put Into That Polluted Vehicle.

Freedom Of The Press

The Second Office In The Government Is Honorable And Easy; The First Is But A Splendid Misery.

Of Distinction By Birth Or Badge, [americans] Had No More Idea Than They Had Of The Mode Of Existence In The Moon Or Planets. They Had Heard Only That There Were Such, And Knew That They Must Be Wrong.

Inalienable Rights

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

Not Less Than Two Hours A Day Should Be Devoted To Exercise, And The Weather Shall Be Little Regarded. If The Body Is Feeble, The Mind Will Not Be Strong.

I Have Given Up Newspapers In Exchange For Tacitus And Thucydides, For Newton And Euclid; And I Find Myself Much The Happier.

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

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

An Industrious Farmer Occupies A More Dignified Place In The Scale Of Beings...than A Lazy Lounger...too Proud To Work, And Drawing Out A Miserable Existence By Eating On That Surplus Of Other Men's Labor.

Knowing That Religion Does Not Furnish Grosser Bigots Than Law, I Expect Little From Old Judges.

The Government Created By This Compact Was Not Made The Exclusive Or Final Judge Of The Extent Of The Powers Delegated To Itself; Since That Would Have Made Its Discretion, And Not The Constitution, The Measure Of Its Powers.

The Cost Of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance

Civil Government Being The Sole Object Of Forming Societies, Its Administration Must Be Conducted By Common Consent.

Cultivators Of The Earth Are The Most Virtuous And Independent Citizens.

Let Us, Then, Fellow Citizens, Unite With One Heart And One Mind. Let Us Restore To Social Intercourse That Harmony And Affection Without Which Liberty And Even Life Itself Are But Dreary Things. And Let Us Reflect That Having Banished From Our Land That Religious Intolerance Under Which Mankind So Long Bled, We Have Yet Gained Little If We Counternance A Political Intolerance As Despotic, As Wicked, And Capable Of A Bitter And Bloody Persecutions.

There Is Not A Truth Existing Which I Fear... Or Would Wish Unknown To The Whole World.

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 Metaphysical Insanities Of Athanasius, Of Loyola, And Of Calvin, Are, To My Understanding, Mere Lapses Into Polytheism, Differing From Paganism Only By Being More Unintelligible.

If Any Doubt Has Arisen As To Me, My Country [virginia] Will Have My Political Creed In The Form Of A "declaration &c." Which I Was Lately Directed To Draw. This Will Give Decisive Proof That My Own Sentiment Concurred With The Vote They Instructed Us To Give.

The Ocean ... Like The Air, Is The Common Birth-right Of Mankind.

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."

Every Man Has Two Countries: His Own And France.

Countries Of The World

Let Those Flatter, Who Fear: It Is Not An American Art. To Give Praise Where It Is Not Due, Might Be Well From The Venal, But Would Ill Beseem Those Who Are Asserting The Rights Of Human Nature.

Knowledge Indeed Is A Desirable, A Lovely Possession.

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

My Affections Were First For My Own Country, Then, Generally, For All Mankind

There Is On The Globe One Single Spot, The Possessor Of Which Is Our Natural And Habitual Enemy. It Is New Orleans, Through Which The Produce Of Three-eighths Of Our Territory Must Pass To Market, And From Its Fertility It Will Ere Long Yield More Than Half Of Our Whole Produce And Contain More Than Half Our Inhabitants.

I Deplore With You The Putrid State Into Which Our Newspapers Have Passed, And The Malignity, The Vulgarity, And Mendacious Spirit Of Those Who Write For Them. ... This Has In A Great Degree Been Produced By The Violence And Malignity Of Party Spirit.

[the Federal Convention] Is Really An Assembly Of Demigods.

Victory And Defeat Are Each Of The Same Price.

Victory And Defeat

Our Greatest Happiness Does Not Depend On The Condition Of Life In Which Chance Has Placed Us, But Is Always The Result Of A Good Conscience, Good Health, Occupation, And Freedom In All Just Pursuits.

I Know Of No Safe Depository Of The Ultimate Powers Of The Society But The People Themselves; And If We Think Them Not Enlightened Enough To Exercise Their Control With A Wholesome Discretion, The Remedy Is Not To Take It From Them But To Inform Their Discretion.

The Whole History Of These Books (i.e. The Gospels) Is So Defective And Doubtful That It Seems Vain To Attempt Minute Enquiry Into It: And Such Tricks Have Been Played With Their Text, And With The Texts Of Other Books Relating To Them, That We Have A Right, From That Cause, To Entertain Much Doubt What Parts Of Them Are Genuine. In The New Testament There Is Internal Evidence That Parts Of It Have Proceeded From An Extraordinary Man; And That Other Parts Are Of The Fabric Of Very Inferior Minds. It Is As Easy To Separate Those Parts, As To Pick Out Diamonds From Dunghills.

The Bible Is The Cornerstone Of Liberty ... Students Perusal Of The Sacred Volume Will Make Us Better Citizens.

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.

The Field Of Knolege Is The Common Property Of All Mankind

I Really Look With Commiseration Over The Great Body Of My Fellow Citizens Who, Reading Newspapers, Live And Die In The Belief That They Have Known Something Of What Has Been Passing In Their Times.

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

Every Nation Has A Right To Govern Itself Internally Under What Forms It Pleases, And To Change These Forms At Its Own Will.

I Sincerely Believe That Banking Establishments Are More Dangerous Than Standing Armies, And That The Principle Of Spending Money To Be Paid By Posterity, Under The Name Of Funding, Is But Swindling Futurity On A Large Scale.

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.

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.

With Your Talents And Industry, With Science, And That Steadfast Honesty Which Eternally Pursues Right, Regardless Of Consequences, You May Promise Yourself Every Thing-but Health, Without Which There Is No Happiness. An Attention To Health Then Should Take Place Of Evey Other Object. The Time Necessary To Secure This By Active Exercises, Should Be Devoted To It In Preference To Every Other Pursuit.

We May Say With Truth And Meaning, That Governments Are More Or Less Republican, As They Have More Or Less Of The Element Of Popular Election And Control In Their Composition; And Believing As I Do, That The Mass Of The Citizens Is The Safest Depository Of Their Own Rights And Especially That The Evils Flowing From The Duperies Of The People Are Less Injurious Than Those From The Egoism Of Their Agents, I Am A Friend To That Composition Of Government Which Has In It The Most Of This Ingredient.

The Majority, Oppressing An Individual, Is Guilty Of A Crime, Abuses Its Strength, And By Acting On The Law Of The Strongest Breaks Up The Foundations Of Society.

The Only Orthodox Object Of The Institution Of Government Is To Secure The Greatest Degree Of Happiness Possible To The General Mass Of Those Associated Under It.

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

An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens.

The Rational And Peaceable Instrument Of Reform, The Suffrage Of The People.

A Room Without Books Is Like A Life Without Meaning.

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.

My Construction Of The Constitution Is Very Different From That You Quote. It Is That Each Department Is Truly Independent Of The Others, And Has An Equal Right To Decide For Itself What Is The Meaning Of The Constitution In The Cases Submitted To Its Action; And Especially, Where It Is To Act Ultimately And Without Appeal.

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.

...in War, They Will Kill Some Of Us; We Shall Destroy All Of Them

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

Whiskey Claims To Itself Alone The Exclusive Office Of Sot-making.

If Thinking Men Would Have The Courage To Think For Themselves, And To Speak What They Think, It Would Be Found They Do Not Differ In Religious Opinions As Much As Is Supposed.

No Man Will Ever Carry Out Of The Presidency The Reputation Which Carried Him Into It.

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.

No Freeman Shall Be Debarred The Use Of Arms.

Second Amendment

If A Nation Expects To Be Ignorant And Free, In A State Of Civilization, It Expects What Never Was And Never Will Be.

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.

I Hope We Shall Prove How Much Happier For Man The Quaker Policy Is, And That The Life Of The Feeder Is Better Than That Of The Fighter; And It Is Some Consolation That The Desolation By These Maniacs Of One Part Of The Earth Is The Means Of Improving It In Other Parts. Let The Latter Be Our Office, And Let Us Milk The Cow, While The Russian Holds Her By The Horns, And The Turk By The Tail.

My Principle Is To Do Whatever Is Right, And Leave Consequences To Him Who Has The Disposal Of Them.

I Believe In Both A Creative And Personal God, A Divinely Ordered Universe, That Man Has An Innate Moral Sense, And That Jesus Was A Great Moral Teacher, Perhaps The Greatest The World Has Witnessed.

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.

War...is As Much A Punishment To The Punisher As To The Sufferer.

1.never Put Off Till To-morrow What You Can Do To-day. 2.never Trouble Another For What You Can Do Yourself. 3.never Spend Your Money Before You Have It. 4.never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You. 5.pride Costs Us More Than Hunger, Thirst, And Cold. 6.we Never Repent Of Having Eaten Too Little. 7.nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly. 8.how Much Pain Have Cost Us The Evils Which Have Never Happened. 9.take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle. 10.when Angry, Count Ten, Before You Speak; If Very Angry, A Hundred.

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.

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

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

Reason And Free Inquiry Are The Only Effective Agents Against Error. Give A Loose To Them, They Will Support The True Religion By Bringing Every False One To Their Tribunal, To The Test Of Their Investigation. They Are The Natural Enemies Of Error And Error Only. Had Not The Roman Government Permitted Free Inquiry, Christianity Could Never Have Been Introduced. Had Not Free Inquiry Been Indulged At The Era Of The Reformation, The Corruption Of Christianity Could Not Have Been Purged Away.

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.

Friendship Is But Another Name For An Alliance With The Follies And The Misfortunes Of Others. Our Own Share Of Miseries Is Sufficient: Why Enter Then As Volunteers Into Those Of Another?

Merchants Have No Country. The Mere Spot They Stand On Does Not Constitute So Strong An Attachment As That From Which They Draw Their Gains.

I Deem No Government Safe Which Is Under The Vassalage Of Any Self-constituted Authorities, Or Any Other Authority Than That Of The Nation, Or Its Regular Functionaries.

My Theory Has Always Been, That If We Are To Dream, The Flatteries Of Hope Are As Cheap, And Pleasanter, Than The Gloom Of Despair.

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