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It Is An Insult To Our Citizens To Question Whether They Are Rational Beings Or Not, And Blasphemy Against Religion To Suppose It Cannot Stand The Test Of Truth And Reason.
-Thomas Jefferson
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It Is An Insult

Thomas Jefferson
It Is An Insult To Our Citizens To Question Whether They Are Rational Beings Or Not, And Blasphemy Against Religion To Suppose It Cannot Stand The Test Of Truth And Reason.
Views: 6
Topic
Atheism
Citizens
Tests
More From Thomas Jefferson
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.
Country
Attachment
America
Peace And Abstinence From European Interferences Are Our Objects, And So Will Continue While The Present Order Of Things In America Remain Uninterrupted.
Peace
War
Order
Let Those Flatter Who Fear; It Is Not An American Art .
Art
Flattery
Never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You.
Advice
Liberty
Want
Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God; Because, If There Be One, He Must More Approve The Homage Of Reason, Than That Of Blindfolded Fear.... Do Not Be Frightened From This Inquiry From Any Fear Of Its Consequences. If It Ends In The Belief That There Is No God, You Will Find Incitements To Virtue In The Comfort And Pleasantness You Feel In Its Exercise.
Exercise
Liberty
Comfort
The Habeas Corpus Secures Every Man Here, Alien Or Citizen, Against Everything Which Is Not Law, Whatever Shape It May Assume.
Men
Law
Civil Rights
Every Man Cannot Have His Way In All Things. If His Opinion Prevails At Some Times, He Should Acquiesce On Seeing That Of Others Preponderate At Other Times. Without This Mutual Disposition We Are Disjointed Individuals, But Not A Society.
Men
Democracy
Way
There Is Nothing More Unequal Than The Equal Treatment Of Unequal People.
Education
Equal Treatment
People
The Constitutional Freedom Of Religion Is The Most Inalienable And Sacred Of All Human Rights
Freedom
Rights
Political
Common Sense Is The Foundation Of All Authorities, Of The Laws Themselves, And Of Their Construction.
Law
Common Sense
Foundation
Our Public Credit Is Good, But The Abundance Of Paper Has Produced A Spirit Of Gambling In The Funds, Which Has Laid Up Our Ships At The Wharves As Too Slow Instruments Of Profit, And Has Even Disarmed The Hand Of The Tailor Of His Needle And Thimble. They Say The Evil Will Cure Itself. I Wish It May; But I Have Rarely Seen A Gamester Cured, Even By The Disasters Of His Vocation.
Gambling
Hands
Evil
Who Better To So Softly Bind The Wound Of One, Than She Who Has Suffered The Wound Herself.
Wounds
My Views And Feelings (are) In Favor Of The Abolition Of War-and I Hope It Is Practicable, By Improving The Mind And Morals Of Society, To Lessen The Disposition To War; But Of Its Abolition I Despair.
Military
War
Views
No Government Can Continue Good But Under The Control Of The People; And . . . . Their Minds Are To Be Informed By Education What Is Right And What Wrong; To Be Encouraged In Habits Of Virtue And To Be Deterred From Those Of Vice . . . . These Are The Inculcations Necessary To Render The People A Sure Basis For The Structure And Order Of Government.
Government
Order
People
Well, Page, I Do Wish The Devil Had Old Cooke, For I Am Sure I Never Was So Tired Of An Old Dull Scoundrel In My Life ... But The Old-fellows Say We Must Read To Gain Knowledge; And Gain Knowledge To Make Us Happy And Be Admired. Mere Jargon! Is There Any Such Thing As Happiness In This World? No.
Educational
Tired
Wish
Nothing Is More Certainly Written In The Book Of Fate Than That These People Are To Be Free.
Book
Fate
People
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.
Innovation
Prejudice
Politics
Every State Has A Natural Right In Cases Not Within The Compact (casus Non Faederis) To Nullify Of Their Own Authority All Assumptions Of Power By Others Within Their Limits. Without This Right, They Would Be Under The Dominion, Absolute And Unlimited, Of Whosoever Might Exercise This Right Of Judgment For Them.
Exercise
Government
Would Be
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
I Have Given Up Newspapers In Exchange For Tacitus And Thucydides, For Newton And Euclid; And I Find Myself Much The Happier.
Newton
Euclid
Newspapers
Still We Did Not Expect To Be Without Rubs And Difficulties; And We Have Had Them. First The Detention Of Western Posts: Then The Coalition Of Pilnitz, Outlawing Our Commerce With France, And The British Enforcement Of The Outlawry. In Your Day French Depredations; In Mine English, And The Berlin And Milan Decrees: Now The English Orders Of Council, And The Piracies They Authorize. When These Shall Be Over, It Will The Impressment Of Our Seamen, Or Something Else; And So We Have Gone On, And So We Shall Go On, Puzzled And Prospering Beyond Example In The History Of Man.
Men
Order
Example
The Greeks By Their Laws, And The Romans By The Spirit Of Their People, Took Care To Put Into The Hands Of Their Rulers No Such Engine Of Oppression As A Standing Army. Their System Was To Make Every Man A Soldier, And Oblige Him To Repair To The Standard Of His Country Whenever That Was Reared. This Made Them Invincible; And The Same Remedy Will Make Us So.
Death
Country
Military
The Earth Belongs To The Living. No Man Can, By Natural Right, Oblige The Lands He Occupied Or The Persons Who Succeed Him In That Occupation, To The Payment Of Debts Contracted By Him. For If He Could, He Might, During His Own Life, Eat Up The Use Of The Lands For Several Generations To Come, And Then The Lands Would Belong To The Dead, And Not To The Living. No Generation Can Contract Debts Greater Than May Be Paid During The Course Of Its Own Existence.
Men
Land
Generations
The Issue Today Is The Same As It Has Been Throughout All History, Whether Man Shall Be Allowed To Govern Himself Or Be Ruled By A Small Elite.
Religious
Men
Issues
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 Precepts Of Philosophy And Of The Hebrew Code, Laid Hold Of Actions Only. (jesus) Pushed His Scrutinies Into The Heart Of Man, Erected His Tribunal In The Regions Of His Thoughts, And Purified The Waters At The Fountain Head.
Jesus
Philosophy
Heart
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.
Government
Order
People
And For The Support Of This Declaration, With A Firm Reliance On The Protection Of Divine Providence, We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor.
God
Support
Independence
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.
Character
Men
May
Nothing Betrays Imbecility So Much As The Being Insensible Of It.
Betray
Imbecility
Insensible
To Lay Taxes To Provide For The General Welfare Of The United States, That Is To Say, 'to Lay Taxes For The Purpose Of Providing For The General Welfare.' For The Laying Of Taxes Is The Power, And The General Welfare The Purpose For Which The Power Is To Be Exercised. They Are Not To Lay Taxes Ad Libitum For Any Purpose They Please; But Only To Pay The Debts Or Provide For The Welfare Of The Union.
United States
Purpose
Taxation
It Is The Old Practice Of Despots To Use A Part Of The People To Keep The Rest In Order.
Freedom
Order
Practice
I Have Ever Deemed It Fundamental For The United States Never To Take Active Part In The Quarrels Of Europe.... They Are Nations Of Eternal War.
War
Europe
United States
Gaming Corrupts Our Disposition And Teaches Us A Habit Of Hostility Against All Mankind.
Gambling
Habit
Disposition
Never Did A Prisoner, Released From His Chains, Feel Such Relief As I Shall On Shaking Off The Shackles Of Power.
Relief
Shackles
Chains
I Enclose To You A Copy Of The Declaration Of Independence As Agreed To By The House, And Also, As Originally Framed. You Will Judge Whether It Is The Better Or Worse For The Critics.
Judging
House
Independence
When A Uniform Exercise Of Kindness To Prisoners On Our Part Has Been Returned By As Uniform Severity On The Part Of Our Enemies,you Must Excuse Me For Saying It Is High Time, By Other Lessons, To Teach Respect To The Dictates Of Humanity; In Such A Case, Retaliation Becomes An Act Of Benevolence.
Kindness
Exercise
Humanity
There Is A Natural Aristocracy Among Men. The Grounds Of This Are Virtue And Talents.
Short Life
Men
Hair
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.
Moral
Instinct
Duty
In Every Government On Earth Is Some Trace Of Human Weakness, Some Germ Of Corruption And Degeneracy, Which Cunning Will Discover, And Wickedness Insensibly Open, Cultivate And Improve.
Government
Weakness
Wickedness
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
Debt And Revolution Are Inseparable As Cause And Effect.
Debt
Revolution
Causes
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
[if A Book Were] Very Innocent, And One Which Might Be Confided To The Reason Of Any Man; Not Likely To Be Much Read If Let Alone, But If Persecuted, It Will Be Generally Read. Every Man In The United States Will Think It A Duty To Buy A Copy, In Vindication Of His Right To Buy And To Read What He Pleases.
Book
Men
Thinking
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
I'd Rather Have Newspapers And No Government Than Government And No Newspapers.
Government
Newspapers
I Am... For Freedom Of The Press, And Against All Violations Of The Constitution To Silence By Force And Not By Reason The Complaints Or Criticisms, Just Or Unjust, Of Our Citizens Against The Conduct Of Their Agents.
Silence
Political
Criticism
No Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Any Religious Worship, Place, Or Ministry Whatsoever.
Religious
Father
Men
Trade Liberty For Safety Or Money And You'll End Up With Neither. Liberty, Like A Grain Of Salt, Easily Dissolves. The Power Of Questioning - Not Simply Believing - Has No Friends. Yet Liberty Depends On It.
Believe
Safety
Liberty
One Had Rather Have No Opinion Than A False One.
Opinion
Say Nothing Of My Religion. It Is Known To God And Myself Alone.
Religion
Known
We Did Not Raise Armies For Glory Or For Conquest.
Peace
War
Army
His [calvin's] Religion Was Demonism. If Ever Man Worshiped A False God, He Did. The Being Described In His Five Points Is ... A Demon Of Malignant Spirit. It Would Be More Pardonable To Believe In No God At All, Than To Blaspheme Him By The Atrocious Attributes Of Calvin
Religious
Believe
Men
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.
Men
Vices
Amplification
The Best (remedy) I Can Devise Would Be To Give Future Commissions To (federal) Judges For Six Years With A Re-appointability By The President With The Approbation Of Both Houses. If This Would Not Be Independence Enough, I Know Not What Would Be.
Years
Giving
Judging
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
There Is No Justification For Taking Away Individuals' Freedom In The Guise Of Public Safety.
Safety
Individual
Justification
I Believe That Banking Institutions Are More Dangerous To Our Liberties Than Standing Armies. Already They Have Raised Up A Moneyed Aristocracy That Has Set The Government At Defiance. The Issuing Power Should Be Taken From The Banks And Restored To The People To Whom It Properly Belongs.
Freedom
Believe
Taken
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
We Are The Friends Of Liberty Everywhere, But The Guarrantors Of Only Our Own.
Liberty
The Further The Departure From Direct And Constant Control By The Citizens, The Less Has The Government Of The Ingredient Of Republicanism.
Government
Citizens
Departure
Principle Will, In... Most... Cases Open The Way For Us To Correct Conclusion.
Principles
Way
Cases
Never Fear The Want Of Business. A Man Who Qualifies Himself Well For His Calling, Never Fails Of Employment.
Motivational
Men
Liberty
The Qualifications For Self-government In Society Are Not Innate. They Are The Result Of Habit And Long Training.
Educational
Government
Self
Whatever Enables Us To Go To War, Secures Our Peace
Peace
War
National Defense
The Rational And Peaceable Instrument Of Reform, The Suffrage Of The People.
People
Voting
Reform
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.
Pain
Pride
Evil
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
Without Society, And A Society To Our Taste, Men Are Never Contented.
Men
Society
Taste
I Have Recently Been Examining All The Known Superstitions Of The World And Do Not Find In Our Particular Superstition [christianity] One Redeeming Feature.
Death
Wisdom
Religious
When The Subject Is Strong, Simplicity Is The Only Way To Treat It.
Strong
Simplicity
Way
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.
Spiritual
Believe
Heaven
I Tolerate With The Utmost Latitude The Right Of Others To Differ From Me In Opinion Without Imputing To Them Criminality.
Liberty
Opinion
Latitude
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 Could Think Of No Worse Example For Nations Abroad, Who For The First Time Were Trying To Put Free Electoral Procedures Into Effect, Than That Of The United States Wrangling Over The Results Of Our Presidential Election, And Even Suggesting That The Presidency Itself Could Be Stolen By Thievery At The Ballot Box.
Thinking
America
Presidential
It Is Not To The Moderation And Justice Of Others We Are To Trust For Fair And Equal Access To Market With Out Productions, Or For Our Due Share In The Transportation Of Them; But To Our Own Means Of Independence, And The Firm Will To Use Them.
Mean
Justice
Independence
In A Republican Nation Whose Citizens Are To Be Led By Reason And Persuasion And Not By Force, The Art Of Reasoning Becomes Of First Importance.
Art
Liberty
Citizens
But Though An Old Man, I Am But A Young Gardener.
Men
Garden
Young
Always Take Hold Of Things By The Smooth Handle.
Life
Smooth
Handle
Nothing Can Now Be Believed That Is Seen In A Newspaper.
Newspapers
An Occasional Insurrection Will Not Weigh Against The Inconveniences Of A Government Of Force, Such As Are Monarchies And Aristocracies.
Wisdom
Government
Aristocracy
If I Had To Choose Between Government And A Free Press, I Would Choose A Free Press.
Government
Free Press
Ifs
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
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.
Art
Taste
Firsts
Almighty God Hath Created The Mind Free. All Attempts To Influence It By Temporal Punishments Or Burthens...are A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion...no Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Religious Worship Or Ministry Or Shall Otherwise Suffer On Account Of His Religious Opinions Or Belief, But All Men Shall Be Free To Profess And By Argument To Maintain, Their Opinions In Matters Of Religion. I Know But One Code Of Morality For Men Whether Acting Singly Or Collectively.
Religious
Men
Justice Of God
For Themselves They Fought, For Themselves They Conquered, And For Themselves Alone They Have They Have Right To Hold.
The Art Of Life Is The Art Of Avoiding Pain.
Inspirational
Funny
Life
If The Freedom Of Religion, Guaranteed To Us By Law In Theory, Can Ever Rise In Practice Under The Overbearing Inquisition Of Public Opinion, [then And Only Then Will Truth]prevail Over Fanaticism.
Law
Practice
Public Opinion
Reason And Free Inquiry Are The Only Effectual Agents Against Error.
Errors
Enquiry
Inquiry
All Through Your Life, You'll Be Faced With Making A Decision Between Two Things-choose The One That Is Right. If They Are Both Right, Then Choose The One That Will Make You Feel The Best About It At The End Of The Day.
Leadership
Sports
Two
We Could In The United States Make As Great A Variety Of Wines As Are Made In Europe, Not Exactly Of The Same Kinds, But Doubtless As Good.
Wine
Europe
United States
The Value Of Science To A Republican People, The Security It Gives To Liberty By Enlightening The Minds Of Its Citizens, The Protection It Affords Against Foreign Power, The Virtue It Inculcates, The Just Emulation Of The Distinction It Confers On Nations Foremost In It; In Short, Its Identification With Power, Morals, Order And Happiness (which Merits To It Premiums Of Encouragement Rather Than Repressive Taxes), Are Considerations [that Should] Always [be] Present And [bear] With Their Just Weight.
Encouragement
Order
People
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.
Men
Mind
Needs
That These Are Our Grievances Which We Have Thus Laid Before His Majesty, With That Freedom Of Language And Sentiment Which Becomes A Free People Claiming Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.
Rights
Law
People
It Is A Problem, Not Clear In My Mind, That [a Society Without Government, As Among Our Indians] Is Not The Best. But I Believe It To Be Inconsistent With Any Great Degree Of Population.
Believe
Government
Mind
Trial By Jury Is Part Of The Bright Constellation Which Leads To Peace, Liberty And Safety.
Safety
Liberty
Trials
Your Own Reason Is The Only Oracle Given To You By God.
Grace
Oracles
Reason
Such Is The Moral Construction Of The World That No National Crime Passes Unpunished In The Long Run... Were Present Oppressors To Reflect On The Same Truth, They Would Spare To Their Own Countries The Penalties On Their Present Wrongs Which Will Be Inflicted On Them In Future Times. The Seeds Of Hatred And Revenge Which They Sow With A Large Hand Will Not Fail To Produce Their Fruits In Time. Like Their Brother Robbers On The Highway, They Suppose The Escape Of The Moment A Final Escape And Deem Infamy And Future Risk Countervailed By Present Gain.
Karma
Country
Running
Difference Of Opinion Is Advantageous In Religion. The Several Sects Perform The Office Of A Censor - Over Each Other.
Life
Differences
Office
Now I Will Avow, That I Then Believed And Now Believe That Those General Principles Of Christianity Are As Eternal And Immutable As The Existence And Attributes Of God; And That Those Principles Of Liberty Are As Unalterable As Human Nature And Our Terrestrial, Mundane System.
Believe
Liberty
Principles
Every Honest Man Will Suppose Honest Acts To Flow From Honest Principles, And The Rogues May Rail Without Intermission.
Honesty
Men
Principles
While Old Men Feel Sensibly Enough Their Own Advance In Years, They Do Not Sufficiently Recollect It In Those Whom They Have Seenyoung.
Men
Years
Enough
Amplification Is The Vice Of Modern Oratory.
Vices
Amplification
Oratory
It Is An Axiom In My Mind That Our Liberty Can Never Be Safe But In The Hands Of The People Themselves, And That Too Of The People With A Certain Degree Of Instruction. This It Is The Business Of The State To Effect, And On A General Plan.
Wisdom
Hands
People
Every One Must Act According To The Dictates Of His Own Reason, And Mine Tells Me That Civil Powers Alone Have Been Given To The President Of The United States, And No Authority To Direct The Religious Exercises Of His Constituents.
Religious
Exercise
Religion
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.
Believe
Rights
Government
The Whole Commerce Between Master And Slave Is A Perpetual Exercise Of The Most Boisterous Passions, The Most Unremitting Despotism On The One Part, And Degrading Submissions On The Other. Our Children See This, And Learn To Imitate It.
Wisdom
Workout
Children
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
The Liberty Of Speaking And Writing Guards Our Other Liberties.
Communication
Writing
Liberty
The Most Effective Way To Find Ourselves Enslaved Will Not Be Done Openly. If Weakened We Will Sink Gradually. I Ask, Who Are The Militia? They Consist Of The Whole People, .... Except A Few Public Officers.
People
Done
Way
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.
Christian
Giving
Atheism
It Is To Them I Look, To The Rising Generation, And Not To The One Now In Power, For These Great Reformations I.e., Emancipation Of Slaves And Settlement Of The Virginia Constitution On A Firmer And More Permanent Basis.
Virginia
Looks
Rising
Convinced That The People Are The Only Safe Depositories Of Their Own Liberty, And That They Are Not Safe Unless Enlightened To A Certain Degree, I Have Looked On Our Present State Of Liberty As A Short-lived Possession Unless The Mass Of The People Could Be Informed To A Certain Degree.
Education
People
Liberty
Don't Talk About What You Have Done Or What You Are Going To Do.
Fidgeting
Done
Kindergarten
[a]lthough A Republican Government Is Slow To Move, Yet When Once In Motion, Its Momentum Becomes Irresistible.
Moving
Government
Momentum
To Compel A Man To Furnish Contributions Of Money For The Propagation Of Opinions Which He Disbelieves And Abhors, Is Sinful And Tyrannical; . . . Even The Forcing Him To Support This Or That Teacher Of His Own Religious Persuasion, Is Depriving Him Of The Comfortable Liberty Of Giving His Contributions To The Particular Pastor Whose Morals He Would Make His Pattern. . . .
Teacher
Religious
Men
The Moral Sense Is As Much A Part Of Our Constitution As That Of Feeling, Seeing, Or Hearing.
Feelings
Religion
Liberty
The Relations Which Exist Between Man And His Maker, And The Duties Resulting From Those Relations, Are The Most Interesting And Important To Every Human Being And The Most Incumbent On His Study And Investigation.
Men
Interesting
Voting
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.
Food
Wine
Doctors
But Is An Enemy So Execrable That Tho In Captivity His Wishes And Comforts Are To Be Disregarded And Even Crossed? I Think Not. It Is For The Benefit Of Mankind To Mitigate The Horrors Of War As Much As Possible.
War
Thinking
Enemy
But The Chief Justice Says, 'there Must Be An Ultimate Arbiter Somewhere.' True, There Must; But Does That Prove It Is Either Party? The Ultimate Arbiter Is The People Of The Union, Assembled By Their Deputies In Convention, At The Call Of Congress Or Of Two-thirds Of The States. Let Them Decide To Which They Mean To Give An Authority Claimed By Two Of Their Organs. And It Has Been The Peculiar Wisdom And Felicity Of Our Constitution, To Have Provided This Peaceable Appeal, Where That Of Other Nations Is At Once To Force.
Party
Mean
Two
I Own That I Am Not A Friend To A Very Energetic Government. It Is Always Oppressive.
Life And Love
Government
Liberty
On Every Unauthoritative Exercise Of Power By The Legislature Must The People Rise In Rebellion Or Their Silence Be Construed Into A Surrender Of That Power To Them? If So, How Many Rebellions Should We Have Had Already?
Exercise
People
Silence
Above All Things I Hope The Education Of The Common People Will Be Attended To; Convinced That On Their Good Sense We May Rely With Most Security For The Preservation Of A Due Degree Of Liberty.
Thank You
Education
Teacher
We Do Not Mean To Count Or Weigh Our Contributions By Any Standard Other Than That Of Our Abilities.
Money
Mean
Standards
Every Man Has Two Countries: His Own And France.
Country
Men
Countries Of The World
Of Publishing A Book On Religion, My Dear Sir, I Never Had An Idea. I Should As Soon Think Of Writing For The Reformation Of Bedlam, As Of The World Of Religious Sects. Of These There Must Be, At Least, Ten Thousand, Every Individual Of Every One Of Which Believes All Wrong But His Own.
Religious
Book
Believe
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.
Government
Done
Intention
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.
Men
Anchors
Law
A Rising Nation, Spread Over A Wide And Fruitful Land, Traversing All The Seas With The Rich Production Of Their Industry.
Sea
Land
Rising
The Mass Of Mankind Has Not Been Born With Saddles On Their Backs, Nor A Favored Few Booted And Spurred, Ready To Ride Them Legitimately, By The Grace Of God.
Freedom
Grace
Liberty
Ambition Is A Tricky Little Animal To Tame. It Is Very Skillful At Concealing Itself From Its Master.
Ambition
Animal
Littles
It Is A Happy Circumstance In Human Affairs That Evils Which Are Not Cured In One Way Will Cure Themselves In Some Other.
Evil
Advice
Way
Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People. Enable Them To See That It Is Their Interest To Preserve Peace And Order, And They Will Preserve Them.
Meaningful
Order
People
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.
School
Government
Parent
Among The Sayings And Discourses Imputed To Him (i.e. Jesus) By His Biographers, I Find Many Passages Of Fine Imagination, Correct Morality, And Of The Most Lovely Benevolence; And Others Again Of So Much Ignorance, So Much Absurdity, So Much Untruth, Charlatanism, And Imposture, As To Pronounce It Impossible That Such Contradictions Should Have Proceeded From The Same Being.
Religious
Jesus
Ignorance
We Are Now Trusting To Those Who Are Against Us In Position And Principle, To Fashion To Their Own Form The Minds And Affections Of Our Youth... This Canker Is Eating On The Vitals Of Our Existence, And If Not Arrested At Once, Will Be Beyond Remedy.
Fashion
Mind
Principles
Every People May Establish What Form Of Government They Please, And Change It As They Please, The Will Of The Nation Being The Only Thing Essential.
Government
People
Essentials
Where Strictness Of Grammar Does Not Weaken Expression, It Should Be Attended To. . . . But Where, By Small Grammatical Negligences, The Energy Of An Idea Is Condensed, Or A Word Stands For A Sentence, I Hold Grammatical Rigor In Contempt.
Writing
Expression
Ideas
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
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.
Friendship
Loss
Men
Slavery Is An Abomination And Must Be Loudly Proclaimed As Such, But I Own That I Nor Any Other Man Has Any Immediate Solution To The Problem.
Men
Slavery
Problem
Though [the People] May Acquiesce, They Cannot Approve What They Do Not Understand.
People
May
Our Cause Is Just. Our Union Is Perfect. ... With Hearts Fortified ... We Most Solemnly, Before God And The World, Declare That... We Will, In Defiance Of Every Hazard, With Unabating Firmness And Perseverence, Employ For The Preservation Of Our Liberties; Being With One Mind Resolved To Die Freemen Rather Than To Live Slaves.
Heart
Perfect
Mind
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.
Champion
Doubt
Opinion
Ministers And Merchants Love Nobody.
Ministers
Merchants
I Am Anxious To See The Doctrine Of One God Commenced In Our State. But The Population Of My Neighborhood Is Too Slender, And Is Too Much Divided Into Other Sects To Maintain Any One Preacher Well. I Must Therefore Be Contented To Be An Unitarian By Myself, Although I Know There Are Many Around Me Who Would Become So, If Once They Could Hear The Questions Fairly Stated.
Atheism
Population
Doctrine
The Declaration Of Independence . . . [is The] Declaratory Charter Of Our Rights, And The Rights Of Man.
Men
Rights
Independence
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 People Are Not Always Well-informed, But Is Better That They Have Misconceptions That Make Them Restless Than That They Be Lethargic-for Lethargy In The People Means Death For Republics.
Mean
People
Republic
The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.
Country
Law
Unsuccessful
The Religion-builders Have So Distorted And Deformed The Doctrines Of Jesus, So Muffled Them In Mysticism, Fancies, And Falsehoods.
Jesus
Fancy
Doctrine
Bodily Decay Is Gloomy In Prospect, But Of All Human Contemplations The Most Abhorrent Is Body Without Mind.
Perspective
Mind
Endurance
But With Respect To Future Debt; Would It Not Be Wise And Just For That Nation To Declare In The Constitution They Are Forming That Neither The Legislature, Nor The Nation Itself Can Validly Contract More Debt, Than They May Pay Within Their Own Age, Or Within The Term Of 19 Years.
Wise
Government
Debt Free
It Is (our) Duty . . . To Pay Especial Attention To The Principles Of Government Which Shall Be Inculcated Therein (at The University), And To Provide That None Shall Be Inculcated Which Are Incompatible With Those On Which The Constitutions Of This State, And Of The United States Were Genuinely Based, In The Common Opinion; And For This Purpose It May Be Necessary To Point Out Specially Where These Principles Are To Be Found Legitimately Developed.
Education
Government
Principles
I Do Most Anxiously Wish To See The Highest Degrees Of Education Given To The Higher Degrees Of Genius And To All Degrees Of It, So Much As May Enable Them To Read And Understand What Is Going On In The World And To Keep Their Part Of It Going On Right; For Nothing Can Keep It Right But Their Own Vigilant And Distrustful Superintendence.
Wish
Degrees
Genius
I Think It Is A Great Error To Consider A Heavy Tax On Wines As A Tax On Luxury. On The Contrary, It Is A Tax On The Health Of Our Citizens.
Wine
Thinking
Errors
Life Is Of No Value But As It Brings Gratifications. Among The Most Valuable Of These Is Rational Society. It Informs The Mind, Sweetens The Temper, Chears Our Spirits, And Promotes Health.
Educational
Mind
Spirit
He, Who Steadily Observes Those Moral Precepts In Which All Religions Concur, Will Never Be Questioned At The Gates Of Heaven As To The Dogmas In Which They All Differ.
Destiny
Heaven
Religion
The Error Seems Not Sufficiently Eradicated, That The Operations Of The Mind, As Well As The Acts Of The Body, Are Subject To The Coercion Of The Laws. But Our Rulers Can Have Authority Over Such Natural Rights Only As We Have Submitted To Them. The Rights Of Conscience We Never Submitted, We Could Not Submit. We Are Answerable For Them To Our God. The Legitimate Powers Of Government Extend To Such Acts Only As Are Injurious To Others.
Government
Law
Errors
A Wise And Frugal Government, Which Shall Restrain Men From Injuring One Another, Which Shall Leave Them Otherwise Free To Regulate Their Own Pursuits Of Industry And Improvement, And Shall Not Take From The Mouth Of Labor The Bread It Has Earned. This Is The Sum Of Good Government, And This Is Necessary To Close The Circle Of Our Felicities.
Wise
Wisdom
Men
Resolved ... That It Would Be A Dangerous Delusion Were A Confidence In The Men Of Our Choice To Silence Our Fears For The Safety Of Our Rights: That Confidence Is Everywhere The Parent Of Despotism - Free Government Is Founded In Jealousy, And Not In Confidence.
Men
Rights
Safety
I Have Indeed Two Great Measures At Heart, Without Which No Republic Can Maintain Itself In Strength: 1. That Of General Education, To Enable Every Man To Judge For Himself What Will Secure Or Endanger His Freedom. 2. To Divide Every County Into Hundreds, Of Such Size That All The Children Of Each Will Be Within Reach Of A Central School In It.
Children
Heart
School
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.
Doors
Hands
People
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.
Believe
Exercise
Government
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.
Law
Giving
Liberty
The Result Of Your Fifty Or Sixty Years Of Religious Reading In The Four Words: 'be Just And Good,' Is That In Which All Our Enquiries Must End.
Religious
Reading
Years
Were It Left To Me To Decide Whether We Should Have A Government Without Newspapers, Or Newspapers Without A Government, I Should Not Hesitate A Moment To Prefer The Latter. But I Should Mean That Every Man Should Receive Those Papers And Be Capable Of Reading Them.
Reading
Mean
Men
Laws That Forbid The Carrying Of Arms . . . Disarm Only Those Who Are Neither Inclined Nor Determined To Commit Crimes . . . Such Laws Make Things Worse For The Assaulted And Better For The Assailants; They Serve Rather To Encourage Than To Prevent Homicides, For An Unarmed Man May Be Attacked With Greater Confidence Than An Armed Man.
Men
Gun
Law
All Men Are Created Equal And Have The Right To Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.
Pursuit Of Happiness
Men
Liberty
Every Government Degenerates When Trusted To The Rulers Of The People Alone. The People Themselves Are Its Only Safe Depositories.
Trust
Government
People
The Most Effective Means Of Preventing Tyranny Is To Illuminate, As Far As Practicable, The Minds Of The People At Large, And More Especially To Give Them Knowledge Of Those Facts.
Mean
Tyrants
People
None But An Armed Nation Can Dispense With A Standing Army. To Keep Ours Armed And Disciplined Is Therefore At All Times Important.
Army
Gun
Important
[the People] Are The Ultimate, Guardians Of Their Own Liberty.
People
President
Liberty
Morals Were Too Essential To The Happiness Of Man, To Be Risked On The Uncertain Combinations Of The Head. Nature Laid Their Foundation, Therefore, In Sentiment, Not In Science.
Men
Foundation
Essentials
We Figure Great Careers Aren't Made. They're Experienced.
Careers
Figures
Made
The Uniform Tenor Of A Man's Life Furnishes Better Evidence Of What He Has Said Or Done On Any Particular Occasion Than The Word Of Any Enemy.
Men
Gossip
Enemy
We Must Be Contented To Amuse, When We Cannot Inform.
Amusement
The Declaration That Religious Faith Shall Be Unpunished Does Not Give Immunity To Criminal Acts Dictated By Religious Error.
Religious
Errors
Giving
No Man Will Labor For Himself Who Can Make Another Labor For Him.
Work
Men
Labor
I Do Not Find In Orthodox Christianity One Redeeming Feature.
Atheist
Religion
President
Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing.
Courage
Patriotic
Men
An Acre Of The Best Ground For Hemp, Is To Be Selected And Sewn In Hemp And Be Kept For A Permanent Hemp Patch.
Acres
Hemp
Patches
A Noiseless Course, Not Meddling With The Affairs Of Others, Unattractive Of Notice, Is A Mark That Society Is Going On In Happiness. If We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labors Of The People Under The Pretense Of Taking Care Of Them, They Must Become Happy.
Government
People
Unattractive
Both Of Our Political Parties, At Least The Honest Portion Of Them, Agree Conscientiously In The Same Object: The Public Good; But They Differ Essentially In What They Deem The Means Of Promoting That Good. One Side Believes It Best Done By One Composition Of The Governing Powers, The Other By A Different One. One Fears Most The Ignorance Of The People; The Other The Selfishness Of Rulers Independent Of Them. Which Is Right, Time And Experience Will Prove.
Party
Believe
Ignorance
If We Are To Guard Against Ignorance And Remain Free, It Is The Responsibility Of Every American To Be Informed.
Ignorance
Responsibility
Ifs
Experience Demands That Man Is The Only Animal Which Devours His Own Kind, For I Can Apply No Milder Term To The General Prey Of The Rich On The Poor.
Men
Animal
Economic Inequality
An Equal Application Of Law To Every Condition Of Man Is Fundamental.
Equality
Men
Law
One Never Really Knows How Much One Has Been Touched By A Place Until One Has Left It.
History
Historical
Humour
Ridicule Is The Only Weapon Which Can Be Used Against Unintelligible Propositions.
Religion
Atheism
Libertarian
A Strong Body Makes The Mind Strong.
Strong
Exercise
Gun
It Is More Honorable To Repair A Wrong Than To Persist In It.
Parliament
Honorable
Persist
The Impious Presumption Of Legislators And Rulers, Civil As Well As Ecclesiastical, Who, Being Themselves But Fallible And Uninspired Men, Have Assumed Dominion Over The Faith Of Others, Setting Up Their Own Opinions And Modes Of Thinking As The Only True And Infallible, And As Such Endeavoring To Impose Them On Others, Hath Established And Maintained False Religions Over The Greatest Part Of The World And Through All Time.
Men
Thinking
Church
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.
Nature
Moving
Animal
No Duty The Executive Had To Perform Was So Trying As To Put The Right Man In The Right Place.
Men
Political
Trying
I Am Satisfied, And Sufficiently Occupied With The Things Which Are, Without Tormenting Or Troubling Myself About Those Which May Indeed Be, But Of Which I Have No Evidence.
Religion
May
Evidence
I Don't Want Them To Kill No Hog . . . . I Want A Man To Go To That Chair, On His Own Two Feet.
Men
Two
Feet
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
Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse In Any Country. If It Were, The Laws Would Lose Their Effect, Because It Can Always Be Pretended.
Country
Ignorance
Law
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.
Mother
Educational
Drawing
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.


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