Background Image
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
Please Wait....
Translating....

In Every Country Where

Thomas Jefferson
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.
Views: 7
Topic
Happiness
Country
Freedom
More From Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution Has Divided The Powers Of Government Into Three Branches, Legislative, Executive And Judiciary, Lodging Each With A Distinct Magistracy. The Legislative It Has Given Completely To The Senate And House Of Representatives. It Has Declared That The Executive Powers Shall Be Vested In The President, Submitting Special Articles Of It To A Negative By The Senate, And It Has Vested The Judiciary Power In The Courts Of Justice, With Certain Exceptions Also In Favor Of The Senate.
Government
Justice
House
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.
Two
Safe
Construction
I Do Verily Believe That A Single, Consolidated Government Would Become The Most Corrupt Government On The Earth.
Believe
Government
Earth
The Chief Purpose Of Government Is To Protect Life. Abandon That And You Have Abandoned All.
Government
Purpose
Abandoned
There Is No Justification For Taking Away Individuals' Freedom In The Guise Of Public Safety.
Safety
Individual
Justification
It Should Be Our Endeavor To Cultivate The Peace And Friendship Of Every Nation, Even Of That Which Has Injured Us Most.
Should
Endeavor
Injured
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.
Media Control
Sound
Principles
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.
Religious
Men
Hypocrisy
No Man Complains Of His Neighbor For Ill Management Of His Affairs, For An Error In Sowing His Land, Or Marrying His Daughter, For Consuming His Substance In Taverns ... In All These He Has Liberty; But If He Does Not Frequent The Church, Or Then Conform In Ceremonies, There Is An Immediate Uproar.
Daughter
Men
Land
If Ever There Was A Holy War, It Was That Which Saved Our Liberties And Gave Us Independence.
War
Independence
Liberty
...the Science Of Calculation Also Is Indispensable As Far As The Extraction Of The Square And Cube Roots: Algebra As Far As The Quadratic Equation And The Use Of Logarithms Are Often Of Value In Ordinary Cases: But All Beyond These Is But A Luxury; A Delicious Luxury Indeed; But Not Be In Indulged In By One Who Is To Have A Profession To Follow For His Subsistence.
Education
Math
Squares
Where Thought Is Free In Its Range, We Need Never Fear To Hazard What Is Good In Itself.
Hazards
Needs
Politics
I Sincerely Wish You May Find It Convenient To Come Here. The Pleasure Of The Trip Will Be Less Than You Expect, But The Utility Greater. It Will Make You Adore Your Own Country, It's Soil, It's Climate, It's Equality, Liberty, Laws, People & Manners. My God! How Little Do My Countrymen Know.
Country
Law
People
There Are Two Subjects, Indeed, Which I Shall Claim A Right To Further As Long As I Breathe: The Public Education, And The Sub-division Of Counties Into Wards. I Consider The Continuance Of Republican Government As Absolutely Hanging On These Two Hooks.
Education
Government
Two
You Have Not Been Mistaken In Supposing My Views And Feeling To Be In Favor Of The Abolition Of War. Of My Dispos[i]tion To Maintain Peace Until Its Condition Shall Be Made Less Tolerable Than That Of War Itself, The World Has Had Proofs, And More, Perhaps, Than It Has Approved. I Hope It Is Practicable, By Improving The Mind And Morals Of Society, To Lessen The Dispos[i]tion To War; But Of Its Abolition I Despair.
Peace
War
Views
Certainly One Of The Highest Duties Of The Citizen Is A Scrupulous Obedience To The Laws Of The Nation. But It Is Not The Highest Duty.
Inspirational
Motivational
Law
I Suppose, Indeed, That In Public Life, A Man Whose Political Principles Have Any Decided Character And Who Has Energy Enough To Give Them Effect Must Always Expect To Encounter Political Hostility From Those Of Adverse Principles.
Character
Men
Giving
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.
Men
Rights
Feelings
The Press Is The Best Instrument For Enlightening The Mind Of Man, And Improving Him As A Rational, Moral And Social Being
Men
Media
Mind
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
Men
Law
We Did Not Raise Armies For Glory Or For Conquest.
Peace
War
Army
The Man Who Would Choose Security Over Freedom Deserves Neither.
Freedom
Men
He Man
I Am A Real Christian, That Is To Say, A Cisciple Of The Doctrines Of Jesus. I Have Little Doubt That Our Whole Country Will Soon Be Rallied To The Unity Of Our Creator.
Christian
Country
Jesus
I Do Believe That General Washington Had Not A Firm Confidence In The Durability Of Our Government. He Was Naturally Distrustful Of Men, And Inclined To Gloomy Apprehensions; And I Was Ever Persuaded That A Belief That We Must At Length End In Something Like A British Constitution, Had Some Weight In His Adoption Of The Ceremonies Of Levees, Birthdays, Pompous Meetings With Congress, And Other Forms Of The Same Character, Calculated To Prepare Us Gradually For A Change Which He Believed Possible, And To Let It Come On With As Little Shock As Might Be To The Public Mind.
Believe
Character
Men
The Great Object Of My Fear Is The Federal Judiciary. That Body, Like Gravity, Ever Acting, With Noiseless Foot, And Unalarming Advance, Gaining Ground Step By Step, And Holding What It Gains, Is Ingulfing Insidiously The Special Governments Into The Jaws Of That Which Feeds Them.
Government
Feet
Special
I Know Of No Safe Depository Of The Ultimate Power Of The Society But The People Themselves.
Peace
War
People
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.
Men
Drawing
Lazy
The Soil Is The Gift Of God To The Living.
Soil
Gift From God
Fix Reason Firmly In Her Seat, And Call On Her Tribunal For Every Fact, Every Opinion. Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God
Religious
Atheist
Faith Religion
It Takes Time To Persuade Men To Do Even What Is For Their Own Good.
Men
Mind Your Own Business
Liberty
The Spirit Of 1776 Is Not Dead. It Has Only Been Slumbering. The Body Of The American People Is Substantially Republican. But Their Virtuous Feelings Have Been Played On By Some Fact With More Fiction; They Have Been The Dupes Of Artful Maneuvers, And Made For A Moment To Be Willing Instruments In Forging Chains For Themselves. But Times And Truth Dissipated The Delusion, And Opened Their Eyes.
Eye
People
Voting
Whiskey Claims To Itself Alone The Exclusive Office Of Sot-making.
Office
Whiskey
Claims
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.
Mean
Evil
Judging
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.
Religious
Heart
Land
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.
Mean
Agriculture
Balance
The Past Stays Put, I Just Keep Moving Farther Away From It.
Moving
Past
Catchy
When The Representative Body Have Lost The Confidence Of Their Constituents, When They Have Notoriously Made Sale Of Their Most Valuable Rights, When They Have Assumed To Themselves Powers Which The People Never Put Into Their Hands, Then Indeed Their Continuing In Office Becomes Dangerous To The State
Freedom
Rights
Hands
Happiness Is Not Being Pained In Body Or Troubled In Mind.
Happiness
Happy
Pain
One Had Rather Have No Opinion Than A False One.
Opinion
It Is Not The Policy Of The Government In America To Give Aid To Works Of Any Kind. They Let Things Take Their Natural Course Without Help Or Impediment, Which Is Generally The Best Policy.
Government
America
Giving
I Discharge Every Person Under Punishment Or Prosecution Under The Sedition Law, Because I Considered, And Now Consider, That Law To Be A Nullity As Absolute And Palpable As If Congress Had Ordered Us To Fall Down And Worship A Golden Image.
Fall
Law
Punishment
I Was Bold In The Pursuit Of Knowledge, Never Fearing To Follow Truth And Reason To Whatever Results They Led, And Bearding Every Authority Which Stood In Their Way.
Truth
Knowledge
Politics
To Preserve Our Independence, We Must Not Let Our Rulers Load Us With Perpetual Debt. We Must Make Our Election Between Economy And Liberty, Or Profusion And Servitude.
Government Debt
Independence
Liberty
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.
Men
Interesting
Freedom Of Speech
When Great Evils Happen, I Am In The Habit Of Looking Out For What Good May Arise From Them As Consolations To Us, And Providence Has In Fact So Established The Order Of Things, As That Most Evils Are The Means Of Producing Some Good.
Mean
Order
Evil
If Your Letters Are As Long As The Bible, They Will Appear Short To Me. Only Let Them Be Brim Full Of Affection.
Long
Letters
Affection
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.
War
Long
Suffering
We Shall Divert Through Our Own Country A Branch Of Commerce Which The European States Have Thought Worthy Of The Most Important Struggles And Sacrifices, And In The Event Of Peace On Terms Which Have Been Contemplated By Some Powers We Shall Form To The American Union A Barrier Against The Dangerous Extension Of The British Province Of Canada And Add To The Empire Of Liberty An Extensive And Fertile Country Thereby Converting Dangerous Enemies Into Valuable Friends.
Country
Struggle
Sacrifice
I Think We Have More Machinery Of Government Than Is Necessary, Too Many Parasites Living On The Labor Of The Industrious.
Life
Thinking
Government
I Find Friendship To Be Like Wine, Raw When New, Ripened With Age, The True Old Man's Milk And Restorative Cordial.
Friendship
True Friend
Wine
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.
Men
Years
Office
What Has Been The Effect Of [religious] Coercion? To Make One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites. To Support Roguery And Error All Over The Earth.
Religious
Hypocrite
Errors
Whose Foot Is To Be The Measure To Which Ours Are All To Be Cut Or Stretched?
Cutting
Feet
Censorship
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.
Reading
Citizens
Looks
Never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You.
Advice
Liberty
Want
There Is No Habit You Will Value So Much As That Of Walking Far Without Fatigue.
Habit
Daily Exercise
Fatigue
Rejecting All Organs Of Informationbut My Senses, I Rid Myself Of The Pyrrhonisms With Which An Indulgence In Speculations Hyperphysical And Antiphysical So Uselessly Occupy And Disquiet The Mind.
Mind
Speculation
Indulgence
Idleness Begets Ennui, Ennui The Hypochondriac, And That A Diseased Body. No Laborious Person Was Ever Yet Hysterical.
Body
Hysterical
Ennui
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.
Mean
Office
Advantage
The Application Requisite To The Duties Of The Office I Hold [governor Of Virginia] Is So Excessive, And The Execution Of Them After All So Imperfect, That I Have Determined To Retire From It At The Close Of The Present Campaign.
Retirement
Virginia
Office
Let Your Gun Therefore Be Your Constant Companion Of Your Walks.
Gun
Second Amendment
Mind Games
Truth Is The Proper And Sufficient Antagonist To Error, And Has Nothing To Fear From The Conflict, Unless, By Human Interposition, Disarmed Of Her Natural Weapons, Free Argument And Debate; Errors Ceasing To Be Dangerous When It Is Permitted Freely To Contradict Them.
Errors
Politics
Weapons
No Occupation Is So Delightful To Me As The Culture Of The Earth, And No Culture Comparable To That Of The Garden.
Garden
Culture
Earth
Our Wish Is That...[there Be] Maintained That State Of Property, Equal Or Unequal, Which Results To Every Man From His Own Industry Or That Of His Fathers.
Father
Men
Wish
The Greatest Calamity Which Could Befall Us Would Be Submission To A Government Of Unlimited Powers.
Government
Would Be
Submission
Perseverance In Object, Though Not By The Most Direct Way, Is Often More Laudable Than Perpetual Changes, As Often As The Object Shifts Light.
Perseverance
Light
Way
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.
Taxation
Earth
Territory
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.
Reading
Reflection
Religion
All, Too, Will Bear In Mind This Sacred Principle, That Though The Will Of The Majority Is In All Cases To Prevail, That Will To Be Rightful Must Be Reasonable; That The Minority Possess Their Equal Rights, Which Equal Law Must Protect, And To Violate Would Be Oppression.
Freedom
Patriotic
Equality
Love Your Neighbor As Yourself And Your Country More Than Yourself.
Country
Love You
Patriotism
Force Cannot Give Right.
Giving
Force
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.
Ocean
Passion
Commitment
Earnestly Recommended To All Officers And Soldiers, Diligently To Attend Divine Services.
Soldier
Divine
Officers
It Is Rare That The Public Sentiment Decides Immorally Or Unwisely, And The Individual Who Differs From It Ought To Distrust And Examine Well His Own Opinion.
Opinion
Individual
Distrust
May It Be To The World... To Assume The Blessings And Security Of Self-government.
Freedom
Blessing
Government
One Imputation In Particular Has Been Repeated Till It Seems As If Some At Least Believed It: That I Am An Enemy To Commerce. They Admit Me A Friend Of Agriculture, And Suppose Me An Enemy To The Only Means Of Disposing Of Its Produce.
Mean
Agriculture
Enemy
State A Moral Case To A Plowman And A Professor. The Former Will Decide It As Well, And Often Better Than The Latter, Because He Has Not Been Led Astray By Artificial Rules.
Intelligence
Ethics
Morality
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.
Gun
Fire
Interesting
The Evidence Of [the] Natural Right [of Expatriation], Like That Of Our Right To Life, Liberty, The Use Of Our Faculties, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Is Not Left To The Feeble And Sophistical Investigations Of Reason, But Is Impressed On The Sense Of Every Man. We Do Not Claim These Under The Charters Of Kings Or Legislators, But Under The King Of Kings.
Kings
Pursuit Of Happiness
Men
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.
Prayer
Men
President
What Justice Would There Be To Take This Life? Justice, Gentlemen? Why, I Would Just As Soon Put A Hog In The Electric Chair As This.
Justice
Gentleman
Dying
I Consider The Government Of The United States As Interdicted By The Constitution From Intermeddling With Religious Institutions, Their Doctrines, Discipline, Or Exercises. This Results Not Only From The Provision That No Law Shall Be Made Respecting The Establishment Or Free Exercise Of Religion, But From That Also Which Reserves To The States The Powers Not Delegated To The United States. Certainly, No Power To Prescribe Any Religious Exercise Or To Assume Authority In Any Religious Discipline Has Been Delegated To The General Government. It Must Then Rest With The States.
Religious
Exercise
Government
He Who Knows Best Knows How Little He Knows.
Work
Best Husband
Crafts
Experience Has Taught Me That Manufacturers Are Now As Necessary To Our Independence As To Our Comfort.
Independence
Comfort
Taught
A Man's Management Of His Own Purse Speaks Volumes About Character
Character
Men
Purses
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.
Independent
Law
Generations
The Concentrating Of Powers In The Same Hands Is Precisely The Definition Of Despotic Government. It Will Be No Alleviation That These Powers Will Be Exercised By A Plurality Of Hands, And Not By A Single One.
Government
Hands
Definitions
Money, Not Morality, Constitutes The Principle Of Commercial Nations.
Principles
Morality
Nations
I Steer My Bark With Hope In The Head, Leaving Fear Astern.
Hope
Fear
Leaving
When The Subject Is Strong, Simplicity Is The Only Way To Treat It.
Strong
Simplicity
Way
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.
Government
Years
Voting
I See No Comfort In Outliving One's Friends, And Remaining A Mere Monument Of The Times Which Are Past.
Past
Comfort
Monument
I Do Not Find In Orthodox Christianity One Redeeming Feature.
Atheist
Religion
President
To Learn, You Have To Listen. To Improve, You Have To Try.
Effort
Trying
"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."
Army
Law
Liberty
The Only Security Of All Is In A Free Press. The Force Of Public Opinion Cannot Be Resisted When Permitted Freely To Be Expressed. The Agitation It Produces Must Be Submitted To. It Is Necessary, To Keep He Waters Pure.
Water
Agitation
Public Opinion
Taste Cannot Be Controlled By Law.
Law
Taste
Controlled
The First Object Of Human Association [is] The Full Improvement Of Their Condition.
Politics
Association
Firsts
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.
Independent
Long
People
This Interesting Subject, Which, If The Condition Of Man Is To Be Progressively Ameliorated, As We Fondly Hope And Believe, Is To Be The Chief Instrument In Effecting It.
Educational
Believe
Men
Private Fortunes, In The Present State Of Our Circulation, Are At The Mercy Of Those Self-created Money Lenders, And Are Prostrated By The Floods Of Nominal Money With Which Their Avarice Deluges Us.
Self
Mercy
States
I Have Learnt To Expect That It Will Rarely Fall To The Lot Of Imperfect Man To Retire From This Station With The Reputation And The Favor Which Bring Him Into It.
Fall
Men
Favors
Never Use Two Words When One Will Do.
Two
Use
It Is Highly Interesting To Our Country, And It Is The Duty Of Its Functionaries, To Provide That Every Citizen In It Should Receive An Education Proportioned To The Condition And Pursuits Of His Life.
Country
Interesting
Citizens
The Darker The Berry, The Sweeter The Juice.
Berries
Juice
I Am For Relying For Internal Defense On Our Militia Solely Till Actual Invasion, And For Such A Naval Force Only As May Protect Our Coasts And Harbors From Such Depredations As We Have Experienced; And Not For A Standing Army In Time Of Peace Which May Overawe The Public Sentiment; Nor For A Navy Which, By Its Own Expenses And The Eternal Wars In Which It Will Implicate Us, Will Grind Us With Public Burthens And Sink Us Under Them.
War
Army
Navy
The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.
Country
Law
Unsuccessful
A Free People [claim] Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.
4th Of July
Rights
Law
The Boys Of The Rising Generation Are To Be The Men Of The Next, And The Sole Guardians Of The Principles We Deliver Over To Them.
Educational
Boys
Men
Do Not Be Too Severe Upon The Errors Of The People, But Reclaim Them By Enlightening Them.
Errors
People
Revolution
The Reward Of Esteem, Respect And Gratitude [is] Due To Those Who Devote Their Time And Efforts To Render The Youths Of Every Successive Age Fit Governors For The Next.
Gratitude
Effort
Age
Those Who Don’t Read The Newspapers Are Better Off Than Those Who Do Insofar As Those Who Know Nothing Are Better Off Than Those Whose Heads Are Filled With Half-truths And Lies.
Lying
Half
Newspapers
You Know Well That Government Always Kept A Kind Of Standing Army Of Newswriters Who, Without Any Regard To Truth Or To What Should Be Like Truth, Invented And Put Into The Papers Whatever Might Serve The [government] Ministers. This Suffices With The Mass Of The People Who Have No Means Of Distinguishing The False From The True Paragraphs Of A Newspaper.
Mean
Army
Government
Let Those Flatter Who Fear; It Is Not An American Art .
Art
Flattery
The Flames Kindled On The Fourth Of July, 1776, Have Spread Over Too Much Of The Globe To Be Extinguished By The Feeble Engines Of Despotism; On The Contrary, They Will Consume These Engines And All Who Work Them.
July
Flames
Too Much
If Anything Pass In A Religious Meeting Seditiously And Contrary To The Public Peace, Let It Be Punished In The Same Manner And No Otherwise Than As If It Had Happened In A Fair Or Market.
Religious
Positive Atheism
Meetings
Rogueries, Absurdities And Untruths Were Perpetrated Upon The Teachings Of Jesus By A Large Band Of Dupes And Importers Led By Paul, The First Great Corrupter Of The Teaching Of Jesus.
Jesus
Teaching
Firsts
And Even Should The Cloud Of Barbarism And Despotism Again Obscure The Science And Libraries Of Europe, This Country Remains To Preserve And Restore Light And Liberty To Them.
Country
Clouds
Light
Our Country Is Too Large To Have All Its Affairs Directed By A Single Government. Public Servants At Such A Distance, And From Under The Eye Of Their Constituents, Must, From The Circumstance Of Distance, Be Unable To Administer And Overlook All The Details Necessary For The Good Government Of The Citizens; And The Same Circumstance, By Rendering Detection Impossible To Their Constituents, Will Invite Public Agents To Corruption, Plunder And Waste.
Country
Distance
Eye
The Governor Would Serve A Five-year Term And Be Ineligible For Reelection.
Years
Political
Term Limits
To The Corruptions Of Christianity I Am Indeed Opposed; But Not To The Genuine Precepts Of Jesus Himself.
Jesus
Christianity
Corruption
A Judiciary Independent Of A King Or Executive Alone, Is A Good Thing; But Independence Of The Will Of The Nation Is A Solecism, At Least In A Republican Government.
Kings
Independent
Government
It Is In Our Lives And Not Our Words That Our Religion Must Be Read.
Inspirational
Life
Integrity
Questions Of Natural Right Are Triable By Their Conformity With The Moral Sense And Reason Of Man.
Men
Inalienable Rights
Moral
I Believe That Every Human Mind Feels Pleasure In Doing Good To Another.
Happiness
Peace
Laughter
It [appears] That However Certain Forms Of Government Are Better Calculated Than Others To Protect Individuals In The Free Exercise Of Their Natural Rights, And Are At The Same Time Themselves Better Guarded Against Degeneracy, Yet Experience [has] Shown That, Even Under The Best Forms, Those Entrusted With Power Have, In Time And By Slow Operations, Perverted It Into Tyranny.
Exercise
Rights
Government
The Division Into Whig And Tory Is Founded In The Nature Of Men; The Weakly And Nerveless, The Rich And The Corrupt, Seeing More Safety And Accessibility In A Strong Executive; The Healthy, Firm, And Virtuous, Feeling Confidence In Their Physical And Moral Resources, And Willing To Part With Only So Much Power As Is Necessary For Their Good Government; And, Therefore, To Retain The Rest In The Hands Of The Many, The Division Will Substantially Be Into Whig And Tory.
Strong
Men
Hands
If We Believe That He [jesus Christ]really Countenanced The Follies, The Falsehoods, And The Charlatanisms, Which His Biographers [writers Of The New Testament]father Upon Him, And Admit The Misconstructions, Interpolations, And Theorizations Of The Fathers Of The Early And The Fanatics Of The Latter Ages, The Conclusion Would Be Irresistible By Every Sound Mind That He Was An Impostor.
Jesus
Father
Believe
Truth Is Great And Will Prevail If Left To Herself.
Truth Is
Church And State
Left
The Happiest Hours Of My Life Have Been Spent In The Flow Of Affection Among Friends.
Flow
Affection
Hours
I Steer My Bark With Hope In The Head, Leaving Fear Astern. My Hopes Indeed Sometimes Fail, But Not Oftener Than The Forebodings Of The Gloomy.
Hope
Wisdom
Fear
The Equal Rights Of Man And The Happiness Of Every Individual Are Now Acknowledged To Be The Only Legitimate Objects Of Government.
Men
Rights
Individual
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?
Men
Office
Aristocracy
The Most Fortunate Of Us, In Our Journey Through Life, Frequently Meet With Calamities And Misfortunes Which May Greatly Afflict Us; And, To Fortify Our Minds Against The Attacks Of These Calamities And Misfortunes, Should Be One Of The Principal Studies And Endeavors Of Our Lives.
Philosophy
Inspiration
Journey
A Free Government Is Of All Others The Most Energetic.
Government
Energetic
Free Government
No Freeman Shall Be Debarred The Use Of Arms.
Second Amendment
Use
Arms
Nothing Betrays Imbecility So Much As The Being Insensible Of It.
Betray
Imbecility
Insensible
. . . In The Full Tide Of Successful Experiment.
Success
Tides
July 4th 1776
An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens . . . There Has Never Been A Moment Of My Life In Which I Should Have Relinquished For It The Enjoyments Of My Family, My Farm, My Friends And Books.
Book
Exercise
Men
Our Bills Shall Not Be Killed.
Bills
Games Played With The Ball, And Others Of That Nature, Are Too Violent For The Body And Stamp No Character On The Mind.
Character
Gun
Games
Books May Be Classed From The Faculties Of The Mind
Educational
Book
Mind
I Am Ever Unwilling That [peace] Should Be Disturbed As Long As The Rights And Interests Of The Nations Can Be Preserved. But Whensoever Hostile Aggressions On These Require A Resort To War, We Must Meet Our Duty And Convince The World That We Are Just Friends And Brave Enemies.
War
Rights
Long
There Is Not A Truth Existing Which I Fear... Or Would Wish Unknown To The Whole World.
Truth
Honesty
Fear
Our People Shall Be Free
People
He [washington] Has Often Declared To Me That He Considered Our New Constitution As An Experiment On The Practicability Of Republican Government, And With What Dose Of Liberty Man Could Be Trusted For His Own Good; That He Was Determined The Experiment Should Have A Fair Trial, And Would Lose The Last Drop Of His Blood In Support Of It. And These Declarations He Repeated To Me The Oftener And The More Pointedly.
Men
Blood
Should Have
Christianity Neither Is, Nor Ever Was A Part Of The Common Law.
Religious
Law
Presidential
Resort Is Had To Ridicule Only When Reason Is Against Us.
Political
Politics
Reason
What We Learn To Do, We Learn By Doing.
Inspirational
Educational
Learning
That Government That Governs Least Governs Best.
Government
I View Great Cities As Pestilential To The Morals, The Health, And The Liberties Of Man.
Men
Views
Cities
The Spirit Of Resistance To Government Is So Valuable On Certain Occasions That I Wish It To Be Always Kept Alive.
Freedom
War
Patriotic
To Penetrate And Dissipate These Clouds Of Darkness, The General Mind Must Be Strengthened By Education.
Education
School
Clouds
Self-love . . . Is The Sole Antagonist Of Virtue, Leading Us Constantly By Our Propensities To Self-gratification In Violation Of Our Moral Duties To Others.
Love Is
Self
Moral
If There Be Any Among Us Who Wish To Dissolve The Union Or To Change Its Republican Form, Let Them Stand Undisturbed, As Monuments Of The Safety With Which Error Of Opinion May Be Tolerated Where Reason Is Left Free To Combat It.
Change
Errors
Safety
It Is Well Known, That On The Ohio, And In Many Parts Of America Further North, Tusks, Grinders, And Skeletons Of Unparalleled Magnitude Are Found In Great Numbers, Some Lying On The Surface Of The Earth, And Some A Little Below It ... But To Whatever Animal We Ascribe These Remains, It Is Certain That Such A One Has Existed In America, And That It Has Been The Largest Of All Terrestrial Beings.
Lying
Animal
Skeletons
No Society Can Make A Perpetual Constitution... The Earth Belongs Always To The Living Generation.
Animal
Generations
Earth
The People Of Every Country Are The Only Safe Guardians Of Their Own Rights, And Are The Only Instruments Which Can Be Used For Their Destruction. And Certainly They Would Never Consent To Be So Used Were They Not Deceived. To Avoid This They Should Be Instructed To A Certain Degree.
Country
Rights
People
... I Am Not Afraid Of Priests. They Have Tried Upon Me All Their Various Batteries Of Pious Whining, Hypocritical Canting, Lying And Slandering. I Have Contemplated Their Order From The Magi Of The East To The Saints Of The West And I Have Found No Difference Of Character, But Of More Or Less Caution, In Proportion To Their Information Or Ignorance On Whom Their Interested Duperies Were To Be Played Off. Their Sway In New England Is Indeed Formidable. No Mind Beyond Mediocrity Dares There To Develop Itself.
Religious
Lying
Father
The Private Buildings [of Virginia] Are Very Rarely Constructed Of Stone Or Brick; Much The Greatest Proportion Being Of Scantlingand Boards, Plastered With Lime. It Is Impossible To Devise Things More Ugly, Uncomfortable, And Happily More Perishable.
Virginia
Boards
Ugly
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.
Dream
Doom And Gloom
Hopeful
In Our Early Struggles For Liberty, Religious Freedom Could Not Fail To Become A Primary Object.
Religious
Struggle
Liberty
A Well Informed Citizenry Is The Best Defense Against Tyranny.
Defense
Tyranny
Wells
We Must Train And Classify The Whole Of Our Male Citizens, And Make Military Instruction A Regular Part Of Collegiate Education.
Military
Males
Citizens
The Evils Of War Are Great In Their Endurance, And Have A Long Reckoning For Ages To Come.
War
Long
Evil
Government Can Do Something For The People Only In Proportion As It Can Do Something To The People.
Government
People
Voting
I Apprehend... That The Total Abandonment Of The Principle Of Rotation In The Offices Of President And Senator Will End In Abuse.
Office
Political
Abuse
If I Could Not Go To Heaven But With A Party, I Would Not Go There At All.
Party
Political
Heaven
It Is More Honorable To Repair A Wrong Than To Persist In It.
Parliament
Honorable
Persist
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.
Inspirational
Positive
Success
Speaking One Day To Monsieur De Buffon, On The Present Ardor Of Chemical Inquiry, He Affected To Consider Chemistry But As Cookery, And To Place The Toils Of The Laboratory On The Footing With Those Of The Kitchen. I Think It, On The Contrary, Among The Most Useful Of Sciences, And Big With Future Discoveries For The Utility And Safety Of The Human Race.
Science
Thinking
Race
In Short I Must Confide In You To Take Such Care Of The Men Under You As An Economical Householder Would Of His Own Family, Doingevery Thing Within Himself As Far As He Can, And Calling For As Few Supplies As Possible. The Less You Depend For Supplies From This Quarter, The Less You Will Be Disappointed.
Men
Calling
Care
I Agree With You That It Is The Duty Of Every Good Citizen To Use All The Opportunities, Which Occur To Him, For Preserving Documents Relating To The History Of Our Country.
Country
Opportunity
President
The Opinions Of Men Are Not The Object Of Civil Government, Nor Under Its Jurisdiction; That To Suffer The Civil Magistrate To Intrude His Powers Into The Field Of Opinion And To Restrain The Profession Or Propagation Of Principles On Supposition Of Their Ill Tendency Is A Dangerous Falacy, Which At Once Destroys All Religious Liberty...
Religious
Men
Suffering
The Question Whether The Judges Are Invested With Exclusive Authority To Decide On The Constitutionality Of A Law Has Been Heretofore A Subject Of Consideration With Me In The Exercise Of Official Duties. Certainly There Is Not A Word In The Constitution Which Has Given That Power To Them More Than To The Executive Or Legislative Branches.
Exercise
Law
Judging
I Have Been Long Sensible That While I Was Endeavoring To Render Our Country The Greatest Of All Services, That Of Regenerating The Public Education, And Placing Our Rising Generation On The Level Of Our Sister States (which They Have Proudly Held Heretofore), I Was Discharging The Odious Function Of A Physician Pouring Medicine Down The Throat Of A Patient Insensible Of Needing It.
Education
Country
Medicine
It Is Better To Have No Ideas Than False Ones.
Ideas
Aries
No Idea
Without Health There Is No Happiness. An Attention To Health, Then, Should Take The Place Of Every Other Object.
Attention
Should
Objects
I Will Now Add What I Do Not Like. First, The Omission Of A Bill Of Rights Providing Clearly And Without The Aid Of Sophisms For Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of The Press, Protection Against Standing Armies, Restriction Against Monopolies, The Eternal And Unremitting Force Of The Habeas Corpus Laws, And Trials By Jury In All Matters Of Fact Triable By The Laws Of The Land And Not By The Law Of Nations.
Army
Omission
Rights
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.
Communication
Ocean
Rivers
The Constitutional Freedom Of Religion Is The Most Inalienable And Sacred Of All Human Rights
Freedom
Rights
Political
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
4th Of July
Men
Thinking
The Excellence Of Every Government Is Its Adaptation To The State Of Those To Be Governed By It.
Government
Excellence
Politics
No People Can Be Both Ignorant And Free.
People
Ignorant
All Power Is Inherent In The People.
Gun
Strong Arms
People
A Right To Property Is Founded In Our Natural Wants, In The Means With Which We Are Endowed To Satisfy These Wants, And The Right To What We Acquire By Those Means Without Violating The Similar Rights Of Other Sensible Beings.
Mean
Rights
Want
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.
Art
Rights
Giving
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.
Spring
Educational
Character
We Discover In The Gospels A Groundwork Of Vulgar Ignorance, Of Things Impossible, Of Superstition, Fanaticism And Fabrication .
Religious
Father
Ignorance
I Concur With You Strictly In Your Opinion Of The Comparative Merits Of Atheism And Demonism, And Really See Nothing But The Latter In The Being Worshipped By Many Who Think Themselves Christians.
Christian
Thinking
Religion
The Glow Of One Warm Thought Is To Me Worth More Than Money.
Money
War
Famous Inspirational
The Federal Government Is Our Servant, Not Our Master.
Government
Masters
Servant
The Persons And Property Of Our Citizens Are Entitled To The Protection Of Our Government In All Places Where They May Lawfully Go.
Government
Citizens
May
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.
Government
Justice
Purpose
Every Man Wishes To Pursue His Occupation And To Enjoy The Fruits Of His Labours And The Produce Of His Property In Peace And Safety, And With The Least Possible Expense. When These Things Are Accomplished, All The Objects For Which Government Ought To Be Established Are Answered.
Men
Safety
Wish
Health Is The Requisite After Morality
Health
Morality
The Truth Is That The Want Of Common Education With Us Is Not From Our Poverty, But From The Want Of An Orderly System. More Money Is Now Paid For The Education Of A Part Than Would Be Paid For That Of The Whole If Systematically Arranged.
Education
Would Be
Want
Truth Can Stand By Itself...if There Be But One Right [religion], And [christianity] That One, We Should Wish To See The Nine Hundred And Ninety-nine Wandering Sects Gathered Into The Fold Of Truth.
Ninety Nine
Wish
Christianity
When We Get Piled Upon One Another In Large Cities, As In Europe, We Shall Become As Corrupt As Europe.
Europe
Cities
Large Cities
With All The Imperfections Of Our Present Government, It Is Without Comparison The Best Existing, Or That Ever Did Exist.
Government
Imperfection
Comparison
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


Trending Author
Helen Reddy
Cassandra Clare
Murray Gell-Mann
Jesse McCartney
Saoirse Ronan
Neil Armstrong
Category
Information