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It Is Strangely Absurd To Suppose That A Million Of Human Beings, Collected Together, Are Not Under The Same Moral Laws Which Bind Each Of Them Separately.

-Thomas Jefferson

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It Is Strangely Absurd

Thomas Jefferson

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It Is Strangely Absurd To Suppose That A Million Of Human Beings, Collected Together, Are Not Under The Same Moral Laws Which Bind Each Of Them Separately.

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Believing That The Happiness Of Mankind Is Best Promoted By The Useful Pursuits Of Peace, That On These Alone A Stable Prosperity Can Be Founded, That The Evils Of War Are Great In Their Endurance, And Have A Long Reckoning For Ages To Come, I Have Used My Best Endeavors To Keep Our Country Uncommitted In The Troubles Which Afflict Europe, And Which Assail Us On Every Side.

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

Let It Be Signified To Me Through Any Channelthat The Possession Of The Floridas Would Be Desirable To The United States, Andin Sixty Days It Will Be Accomplished. ...penned In The Language Of Truth, And Divested Of Those Expressions Of Servility Which Would Persuade His Majesty That We Are Asking Favors And Not Rights.

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

Do Not Neglect Your Music. It Will Be A Companion Which Will Sweeten Many Hours Of Life To You.

Peace And Friendship With All Mankind Is Our Wisest Policy, And I Wish We May Be Permitted To Pursue It.

Even In Europe A Change Has Sensibly Taken Place In The Mind Of Man. Science Has Liberated The Ideas Of Those Who Read And Reflect, And The American Example Has Kindled Feelings Of Right In The People. An Insurrection Has Consequently Begun Of Science Talents And Courage Against Rank And Birth, Which Have Fallen Into Contempt. It Has Failed In Its First Effort, Because The Mobs Of The Cities, The Instrument Used For Its Accomplishment, Debased By Ignorance, Poverty And Vice, Could Not Be Restrained To Rational Action. But The World Will Soon Recover From The Panic Of This First Catastrophe.

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

I Feel Much Alarmed At The Prospect Of Seeing General Jackson President. He Is The Most Unfit Man I Know For Such A Place.

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

A Little Rebellion Now And Then Is A Good Thing. Rebellion To Tyrants Is Obedience To God. In Order To Flourish, The Tree Of Liberty Needs The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants.

Every Gentleman Plays Billiards, But Someone Who Plays Billiards Too Well, Is No Gentleman.

He Who Permits Himself To Tell A Lie Once, Finds It Much Easier To Do It The Second Time.

Principle Will, In... Most... Cases Open The Way For Us To Correct Conclusion.

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.

Music Furnishes A Delightful Recreation For The Hours Of Respite From The Cares Of The Day, And Lasts Us Through Life.

Those Who Live By Mystery & Charlatanerie, Fearing You Would Render Them Useless By Simplifying The Christian Philosophy - The Most Sublime And Benevolent, But Most Perverted System That Ever Shone On Man - Endeavored To Crush Your Well-earned & Well-deserved Fame.

The People Cannot Be All, And Always, Well Informed. The Part Which Is Wrong Will Be Discontented, In Proportion To The Importance Of The Facts They Misconceive. If They Remain Quiet Under Such Misconceptions, It Is Lethargy, The Forerunner Of Death To The Public Liberty. And What Country Can Preserve Its Liberties, If Its Rulers Are Not Warned From Time To Time, That This People Preserve The Spirit Of Resistance? Let Them Take Arms.

Never Was So Much False Arithmetic Employed On Any Subject, As That Which Has Been Employed To Persuade Nations That It Is In Their Interest To Go To War.

Wake Up, Dream, Have The Ambition To Do The Things You Have Always Dreamed Of, Go Farther Than Any Man Has Ever Been Before, Go As Far As It Is Possible For Any Man To Go, What Have You Got To Lose? 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.

He Who Knows Best Knows How Little He Knows.

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.

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

The Olive Tree Is Surely The Richest Gift Of Heaven. I Can Scarcely Expect Bread.

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.

Victory And Defeat Are Each Of The Same Price.

Victory And Defeat

The Chief Purpose Of Government Is To Protect Life. Abandon That And You Have Abandoned All.

Where The Principle Of Difference [between Political Parties] Is As Substantial And As Strongly Pronounced As Between The Republicans And The Monocrats Of Our Country, I Hold It As Honorable To Take A Firm And Decided Part And As Immoral To Pursue A Middle Line, As Between The Parties Of Honest Men And Rogues, Into Which Every Country Is Divided.

A Lottery Is A Salutary Instrument And A Tax... Laid On The Willing Only, That Is To Say, On Those Who Can Risk The Price Of A Ticket Without Sensible Injury, For The Possibility Of A Higher Prize.

I Acknowledge That Such A Debt [of Service To My Fellow-citizens] Exists, That A Tour Of Duty In Whatever Line He Can Be Most Useful To His Country, Is Due From Every Individual. It Is Not Easy Perhaps To Say Of What Length Exactly That Tour Should Be, But We May Safely Say Of What Length It Should Not Be. Not Of Our Whole Life, For Instance, For That Would Be To Be Born A Slave-not Even Of A Very Large Portion Of It.

The Purse Of The People Is The Real Seat Of Sensibility. Let It Be Drawn Upon Largely, And They Will Then Listen To Truths Which Could Not Excite Them Through Any Other Organ.

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

No One Has A Right To Obstruct Another Exercising His Faculties Innocently For The Relief Of Sensibilities Made A Part Of His Nature.

Equal And Exact Justice To All Men, Of Whatever State Or Persuasion.

A Truth Now And Then Projecting Into The Ocean Of Newspaper Lies Serves Like Headlands To Correct Our Course. Indeed, My Scepticism As To Everything I See In A Newspaper Makes Me Indifferent Whether I Ever See One.

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

Of All The Systems Of Morality, Ancient Or Modern Which Have Come Under My Observation, None Appears To Me So Pure As That Of Jesus....i Am A Real Christian, That Is To Say, A Disciple Of The Doctrines Of Jesus.

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.

The Interests Of A Nation, When Well Understood, Will Be Found To Coincide With Their Moral Duties.

Legislators Cannot Invent Too Many Devices For Subdividing Property... Another Means Of Silently Lessening The Inequality Of Property Is To Exempt All From Taxation Below A Certain Point, And To Tax The Higher Portions Of Property In Geometrical Progression As They Rise. Whenever There Is In Any Country, Uncultivated Lands And Unemployed Poor, It Is Clear That The Laws Of Property Have Been So Far Extended As To Violate Natural Right.

Cultivators Of The Earth Are The Most Valuable Citizens. They Are The Most Vigorous, The Most Independent, The Most Virtuous And They Are Tied To Their Country And Wedded To Its Liberty And Interests By The Most Lasting Bands.

Our Bills Shall Not Be Killed.

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.... Reason And Persuasion Are The Only Practicable Instruments. To Make Way For These, Free Inquiry Must Be Indulged.... Let Them Take Arms. The Remedy Is To Set Them Right As To The Facts, Pardon And Pacify Them.

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.

I Am Never Tempted To Pray But When A Warm Feeling For My Friends Comes Athwart My Heart.

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.

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

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

The Glow Of One Warm Thought Is To Me Worth More Than Money.

Famous Inspirational

In Our Own Native Land, In Defense Of The Freedom That Is Our Birthright And Which We Ever Enjoyed Till The Late Violation Of It. For The Protection Of Our Property, Acquired Solely By The Honest Industry Of Our Fore-fathers And Ourselves, Against Violence Actually Offered, We Have Taken Up Arms. We Shall Lay Them Down When Hostilities Shall Cease On The Part Of The Aggressors, And All Danger Of Their Being Renewed Shall Be Removed, And Not Before.

No Stile Of Writing Is So Delightful As That Which Is All Pith, Which Never Omits A Necessary Word, Nor Uses An Unnecessary One.

A Little Patience, And We Shall See The Reign Of Witches Pass Over, Their Spells Dissolve, And The People, Recovering Their True Sight, Restore Their Government To Its True Principles. It Is True That In The Meantime We Are Suffering Deeply In Spirit, And Incurring The Horrors Of A War And Long Oppressions Of Enormous Public Debt...if The Game Runs Sometime Against Us At Home, We Must Have Patience Till Luck Turns, And Then We Shall Have An Opportunity Of Winning Back The Principles We Have Lost, For This Is A Game Where Principles Are At Stake.

Congress Errs In Too Much Talking, How Can It Be Otherwise, In A Body To Which The People Send One Hundred And Fifty Lawyers, Whose Trade It Is To Question Everything, Yield Nothing, And Talk By The Hour?

The Governor Would Serve A Five-year Term And Be Ineligible For Reelection.

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.

Honor, Justice, And Humanity, Forbid Us Tamely To Surrender That Freedom Which We Received From Our Gallant Ancestors, And Which Our Innocent Posterity Have A Right To Receive From Us.

The Boisterous Sea Of Liberty Is Never Without A Wave.

On The Dogmas Of Religion, As Distinguished From Moral Principles, All Mankind, From The Beginning Of The World To This Day, Have Been Quarrelling, Fighting, Burning And Torturing One Another, For Abstractions Unintelligible To Themselves And To All Others, And Absolutely Beyond The Comprehension Of The Human Mind.

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

Of All The Cankers Of Human Happiness None Corrodes With So Silent, Yet So Baneful An Influence, As Indolence.

I Have Nothing But Contempt For Anyone Who Can Spell A Word In Only One Way.

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

Self-interest, Or Rather Self-love, Or Egoism, Has Been More Plausibly Substituted As The Basis Of Morality.

The Abolition Of Domestic Slavery Is The Great Object Of Desire In Those Colonies, Where It Was Unhappily Introduced In Their Infant State.

The True Theory Of Our Constitution Is Surely The Wisest And Best, That The States Are Independent As To Everything Within Themselves, And United As To Everything Respecting Foreign Affairs. Let The General Government Be Reduced To Foreign Concerns Only, And Let Our Affairs Be Disentangled From Those Of All Other Nations, Except As To Commerce, Which The Merchants Will Manage The Better, The More They Are Left Free To Manage For Themselves, And Our General Government May Be Reduced To A Very Simple Organization, And A Very Inexpensive One; A Few Plain Duties To Be Performed By A Few Servants.

Those Are Governed Best Who Are Governed Least.

Honesty, Disinterestedness And Good Nature Are Indispensable To Procure The Esteem And Confidence Of Those With Whom We Live, And On Whose Esteem Our Happiness Depends.

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.

I Had Always Hoped That The Younger Generation Receiving Their Early Impressions After The Flame Of Liberty Had Been Kindled In Every Breast . . . Would Have Sympathized With Oppression Wherever Found, And Proved Their Love Of Liberty Beyond Their Own Share Of It.

I Shall Often Go Wrong Through Defect Of Judgment. When Right, I Shall Often Be Thought Wrong By Those Whose Positions Will Not Command A View Of The Whole Ground. I Ask Your Indulgence For My Own Errors, Which Will Never Be Intentional, And Your Support Against The Errors Of Others, Who May Condemn What They Would Not If Seen In All Its Parts.

If We Can But Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labours Of The People, Under The Pretence Of Taking Care Of Them, They Must Become Happy.

The Most Successful War Seldom Pays For Its Losses.

Our Business Is To Have Great Credit And To Use It Little.

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

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

One Single Object . . . [will Merit] The Endless Gratitude Of The Society: That Of Restraining The Judges From Usurping Legislation.

Of All Exercises, Walking Is The Best.

It Is More Dangerous That Even A Guilty Person Should Be Punished Without The Forms Of Law Than That He Should Escape.

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.

Experience Hath Shewn, That Even Under The Best Forms Of Government Those Entrusted With Power Have, In Time, And By Slow Operations, Perverted It Into Tyranny.

Democracies Have

A Great Deal Of Love Given To A Few Is Better Than A Little To Many.

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

The Instability Of Our Laws Is Really An Immense Evil. I Think It Would Be Well To Provide In Our Constitutions That There Shall Always Be A Twelve-month Between The Ingross-ing A Bill & Passing It: That It Should Then Be Offered To Its Passage Without Changing A Word: And That If Circum-stances Should Be Thought To Require A Speedier Passage, It Should Take Two Thirds Of Both Houses Instead Of A Bare Majority.

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.

We Think, In America, That It Is Necessary To Introduce The People Into Every Department Of Government, As Far As They Are Capable Of Exercising It, And That This Is The Only Way To Ensure A Long Continued And Honest Administration Of Its Powers.

Whenever The People Are Well Informed, They Can Be Trusted With Their Own Government; That Whenever Things Get So Far Wrong As To Attract Their Notice, They May Be Relied On To Set Them To Rights.

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

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

History, I Believe, Furnishes No Example Of A Priest-ridden People Maintaining A Free Civil Government. This Marks The Lowest Grade Of Ignorance Of Which Their Civil As Well As Religious Leaders Will Always Avail Themselves For Their Own Purposes.

At The Time We Were Funding Our National Debt, We Heard Much About "a Public Debt Being A Public Blessing"; That The Stock Representing It Was A Creation Of Active Capital For The Aliment Of Commerce, Manufactures And Agriculture. This Paradox Was Well Adapted To The Minds Of Believers In Dreams.

I Have Ever Deemed It Fundamental For The United States Never To Take Active Part In The Quarrels Of Europe. Their Political Interests Are Entirely Distinct From Ours. Their Mutual Jealousies, Their Balance Of Power, Their Complicated Alliances, Their Forms And Principles Of Government, Are All Foreign To Us. They Are Nations Of Eternal War.

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

The Clergy ... Believe That Any Portion Of Power Confided To Me [as President] Will Be Exerted In Opposition To Their Schemes. And They Believe Rightly: For I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God, Eternal Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man. But This Is All They Have To Fear From Me: And Enough, Too, In Their Opinion.

All Eyes Are Opened, Or Opening, To The Rights Of Man. The General Spread Of The Light Of Science Has Already Laid Open To Every View. The Palpable Truth, That 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. These Are Grounds Of Hope For Others. For Ourselves, Let The Annual Return Of This Day Forever Refresh Our Recollections Of These Rights, And An Undiminished Devotion To Them.

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.

Man ... Feels That He Is A Participator In The Government Of Affairs Not Merely At An Election, One Day In The Year, But Every Day.

It Is For The Benefit Of Mankind To Mitigate The Horrors Of War As Much As Possible.

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.

A Man's Moral Sense Must Be Unusually Strong If Slavery Does Not Make Him A Thief.

Tobacco Is A Culture Productive Of Infinite Wretchedness.

Mankind Are More Disposed To Suffer, While Evils Are Sufferable, Than To Right Themselves By Abolishing The Forms To Which They Are Accustomed.

Unalienable Rights

The Contradictory Experiments Of Chemists Leave Us At Liberty To Conclude What We Please. My Conclusion Is, That Art Has Not Yet Invented Sufficient Aids To Enable Such Subtle Bodies [air, Light, &c.] To Make A Well-defined Impression On Organs As Blunt As Ours; That It Is Laudable To Encourage Investigation But To Hold Back Conclusion.

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.

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.

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

I Do Not Believe War The Most Certain Means Of Enforcing Principles. Those Peaceable Coercions Which Are In The Power Of Every Nation, If Undertaken In Concert And In Time Of Peace, Are More Likely To Produce The Desired Effect.

[the People] Are The Ultimate, Guardians Of Their Own Liberty.

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.

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

Laws And Institutions Must Go Hand In Hand With The Progress Of The Human Mind. . . . We Might As Well Require A Man To Wear The Coat Which Fitted Him When A Boy As Civilized Society To Remain Forever Under The Regimen Of Their Barbarous Ancestors.

Hemp Is Of First Necessity To The Wealth & Protection Of The Country.

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

This Ball Of Liberty, I Believe Most Piously, Is Now So Well In Motion That It Will Roll Round The Globe. At Least The Enlightened Part Of It, For Light & Liberty Go Together.

If I Am To Meet With A Disappointment, The Sooner I Know It, The More Of Life I Shall Have To Wear It Off.

I Am Sure That In Estimating Every Man's Value Either In Private Or Public Life, A Pure Integrity Is The Quality We Take First Into Calculation, And That Learning And Talents Are Only The Second.

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.

Health Is The Requisite After Morality

Our Citizens May Be Deceived For Awhile, And Have Been Deceived; But As Long As The Presses Can Be Protected, We May Trust To Them For Light.

Nature Intended Me For The Tranquil Pursuits Of Science By Rendering Them My Supreme Delight.

It Is The Old Practice Of Despots To Use A Part Of The People To Keep The Rest In Order.

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

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.

But When A Long Train Of Abuses And Usurpations, Pursuing Invariably The Same Object Evinces A Design To Reduce Them Under Absolute Despotism, It Is Their Right, It Is Their Duty, To Throw Off Such Government, And To Provide New Guards For Their Future Security.

Paul Was The First Corrupter Of The Doctrines Of Jesus.

Let Your Gun Therefore Be Your Constant Companion Of Your Walks.

Second Amendment

A Bill Of Rights Is What The People Are Entitled To Against Every Government, And What No Just Government Should Refuse, Or Rest On Inference.

I Pledge Undying Hostility To Any Government Restrictions On The Free Minds Of The People.

If A Sect Arises Whose Tenets Would Subvert Morals, Good Sense Has Fair Play And Reasons And Laughs It Out Of Doors Without Suffering The State To Be Troubled With It.

That Government That Governs Least Governs Best.

All Power Is Inherent In The People.

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

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

We Could In The United States Make As Great A Variety Of Wines As Are Made In Europe, Not Exactly Of The Same Kinds, But Doubtless As Good.

The Care Of Human Life And Happiness, And Not Their Destruction, Is The First And Only Object Of Good Government.

A True Patriot Will Defend His Country From Its Government.

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.

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

The Sun Of Her [great Britain] Glory Is Fast Descending To The Horizon. Her Philosophy Has Crossed The Channel, Her Freedom The Atlantic, And Herself Seems Passing To That Awful Dissolution, Whose Issue Is Not Given Human Foresight To Scan.

Let The Eye Of Vigilance Never Be Closed.

Very Many And Very Meritorious Were The Worthy Patriots Who Assisted In Bringing Back Our Government To Its Republican Tack. To Preserve It In That, Will Require Unremitting Vigilance.

What Has Been The Effect Of Coercion? To Make One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites. To Support Roguery And Error All Over The Earth.... [instead] Reason And Persuasion Are The Only Practicable Instruments. To Make Way For These, Free Enquiry Must Be Indulged; And How Can We Wish Others To Indulge It While We Refuse It Ourselves?

In A Free Society With A Government Based On Reason, It Is Inevitable That There Will Be No Uniform Opinion About Important Issues. Those Accustomed To Suppression And Control By Governmental Authority See This As Leading Only To Chaos. But A Government Of The People Requires Difference Of Opinion In Order To Discover Truth And To Take Advantage Of The Opportunity That Only Understanding Brings.

Eternal Vigilance Is The Price Of Democracy.

The Bulk Of Mankind Are Schoolboys Through Life.

I Rejoice When I Hear Of Young Men Of Virtue And Talents, Worthy To Receive And Likely To Preserve The Splendid Inheritance Of Self- Government, Which We Have Acquired And Shaped For Them.

Are We To Have A Censor Whose Imprimatur Shall Say What Books May Be Sold, And What We May Buy? And Who Is Thus To Dogmatize Religious Opinions For Our Citizens? Whose Foot Is To Be The Measure To Which Ours Are All To Be Cut Or Stretched? Is A Priest To Be Our Inquisitor, Or Shall A Layman, Simple As Ourselves, Set Up His Reason As The Rule Of What We Are To Read, And What We Must Believe?

It Is A [disputed] Question, Whether The Circulation Of Paper, Rather Than Of Specie [gold And Silver Coin], Is A Good Or An Evil I Believe It To Be One Of Those Cases Where Mercantile Clamor Will Bear Down Reason, Until It Is Corrected By Ruin.

The Sentiments Of Men Are Known Not Only By What They Receive, But What They Reject Also.

A Society That Will Trade A Little Liberty For A Little Order Will Lose Both, And Deserve Neither.

The Giver Of Life Gave It For Happiness And Not For Wretchedness.

I Do Not Agree That An Age Of Pleasure Is No Compensation For A Moment Of Pain.

I... [am] Convinced [man] Has No Natural Right In Opposition To His Social Duties.

Separation Of Church And State

When We Consider How Much Climate Contributes To The Happiness Of Our Condition, By The Fine Sensation It Excites, And The Productions It Is The Parent Of, We Have Reason To Value Highly The Accident Of Birth In Such A One As That Of Virginia.

Dependence Begets Subservience And Paves The Way For Tyranny.

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.

A Community Of Small Farmers... Land Property Owners, Will Be The Only Assurance That The Freedom Our Republic Offers Will Be Guaranteed To Each And Every Citizen.

Unmerited Abuse Wounds, While Unmerited Praise Has Not The Power To Heal.

It Is Not Only Vain, But Wicked, In A Legislator To Frame Laws In Opposition To The Laws Of Nature, And To Arm Them With The Terrors Of Death. This Is Truly Creating Crimes In Order To Punish Them.

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

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

The Soil Is The Gift Of God To The Living.

Take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle.

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

Every Experience Deeply Felt In Life Needs To Be Passed Along. Wheather It Be Through Words And Music, Chiseled In Stone, Painted With A Brush, Or Sewn With A Needle, It Is A Way Of Reaching For Immortality.

The Mass Of The Citizens Is The Safest Depositary Of Their Own Rights.

From Breakfast, Or Noon At The Latest, To Dinner, I Am Mostly On Horseback, Attending To My Farm Or Other Concerns, Which I Find Healthful To My Body, Mind, And Affairs.

Paper Is Poverty, It Is Only The Ghost Of Money, And Not Money Itself.

Taste Cannot Be Controlled By Law.

We Prefer War In All Cases To Tribute Under Any Form And To Any People Whatever.

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

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

Conquest Is Not In Our Principles. It Is Inconsistent With Our Government.

Let Those Flatter Who Fear; It Is Not An American Art .

No Religious Reading, Instruction Or Exercise, Shall Be Prescribed Or Practiced [in The Elementary Schools] Inconsistent With The Tenets Of Any Religious Sect Or Denomination.

I Wish I Was A Despot That I Might Save The Noble, The Beautiful Trees That Are Daily Falling Sacrifice To The Cupidity Of Their Owners, Or The Necessity Of The Poor. The Unnecessary Felling Of A Tree, Perhaps The Growth Of Centuries, Seems To Me A Crime Little Short Of Murder.

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

The Worst Day In A Man's Life Is When He Sits Down And Begins Thinking About How He Can Get Something For Nothing.

My God! How Little Do My Countrymen Know What Precious Blessings They Are In Possession Of, And Which No Other People On Earth Enjoy!

A Single Good Government Becomes... A Blessing To The Whole Earth, Its Welcome To The Oppressed Restraining Within Certain Limits The Measure Of Their Oppressions. But Should Even This Be Counteracted By Violence On The Right Of Expatriation, The Other Branch Of Our Example Then Presents Itself For Imitation: To Rise On Their Rulers And Do As We Have Done.

Men Are Disposed To Live Honestly, If The Means Of Doing So Are Open To Them.

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

Ignorance And Bigotry, Like Other Insanities, Are Incapable Of Self-government.

We Have The Wolf By The Ears, And We Can Neither Hold Him, Nor Safely Let Him Go. Justice Is In One Scale, And Self-preservation In The Other.

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

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.

The Idea Is Quite Unfounded That On Entering Into Society We Give Up Any Natural Rights.

History Teaches The Young The Virtues Of Freedom. By Apprising Them Of The Past It Will Enable Them To Judge The Future.

The Good Opinion Of Mankind, Like The Lever Of Archimedes, With The Given Fulcrum, Moves The World.

Of The Various Executive Abilities, No One Excited More Anxious Concern Than That Of Placing The Interests Of Our Fellow-citizens In The Hands Of Honest Men, With Understanding Sufficient For Their Stations. No Duty Is At The Same Time More Difficult To Fulfil. The Knowledge Of Character Possessed By A Single Individual Is Of Necessity Limited. To Seek Out The Best Through The Whole Union, We Must Resort To The Information Which From The Best Of Men, Acting Disinterestedly And With The Purest Motives, Is Sometimes Incorrect.

I Wish It Were Possible To Obtain A Single Amendment To Our Constitution. I Would Be Willing To Depend On That Alone For The Reduction Of The Administration Of Our Government; I Mean An Additional Article Taking From The Federal Government The Power Of Borrowing.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Freedom Of The Press

The Only Foundation For Useful Education In A Republic Is To Be Laid In Religion.

This Is Perhaps The Most Important Statement On Religion Ever Made. It Clarified The Intent Of The Founders Of The Constitution Irrespective Of The Attempts Of Modern Day Religious Revisionists.

From Forty Years' Experience Of The Wretched Guess-work Of The Newspapers Of What Is Not Done In Open Daylight, And Of Their Falsehood Even As To That, I Rarely Think Them Worth Reading, And Almost Never Worth Notice.

Amplification Is The Vice Of Modern Oratory.

The Mobs Of The Great Cities Add Just So Much To The Support Of Pure Government As Sores Do To The Strength Of The Human Body. It Is The Manners And Spirit Of A People Which Preserve A Republic In Vigor. A Degeneracy In These Is A Canker Which Soon Eats To The Heart Of Its Laws And Constitution.

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