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My Confidence Is That There Will For A Long Time Be Virtue And Good Sense Enough In Our Countrymen To Correct Abuses.
-Thomas Jefferson
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My Confidence Is That

Thomas Jefferson
My Confidence Is That There Will For A Long Time Be Virtue And Good Sense Enough In Our Countrymen To Correct Abuses.
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Long
Abuse
Virtue
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France, Freed From That Monster, Bonaparte, Must Again Become The Most Agreeable Country On Earth. It Would Be The Second Choice Of All Whose Ties Of Family And Fortune Give A Preference To Some Other One, And The First Choice Of All Not Under Those Ties.
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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.
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I Thank Heaven That The 4th. Of July Is Over. It Is Always A Day Of Great Fatigue To Me, And Of Some Embarrassments From Improper Intrusions And Some From Unintended Exclusions.
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The Future Inhabitants Of [both] The Atlantic And Mississippi States Will Be Our Sons. We Think We See Their Happiness In Their Union, And We Wish It. Events May Prove Otherwise; And If They See Their Interest In Separating Why Should We Take Sides? God Bless Them Both, And Keep Them In Union If It Be For Their Good, But Separate Them If It Be Better.
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Public Employment Contributes Neither To Advantage Nor Happiness. It Is But Honorable Exile From One's Family And Affairs.
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We Are Now Vibrating Between Too Much And Too Little Government, And The Pendulum Will Rest Finally In The Middle.
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Agreeable Society Is The First Essential In Constituting The Happiness And Of Course The Value Of Our Existence.
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Not Less Than Two Hours A Day Should Be Devoded To Exercise, And Weather Should Be Little Regarded. A Person Not Sick Will Not Be Injured By Getting Wet. It Is But Taking A Cold Bath, Which Never Gives A Cold To Any One. Brute Animals Are The Most Healthy, And They Are Exposed To All Weather, And Of Men, Those Are Healthiest Who Are The Most Exposed.
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The People Of Every Country Are The Only Safe Guardians Of Their Own Rights.
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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.
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If I Am To Meet With A Disappointment, The Sooner I Know It, The More Of Life I Shall Have To Wear It Off.
Disappointment
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The Last Hope Of Human Liberty In This World Rests On Us.
America
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To Compel A Man To Furnish Contributions Of Money For The Propagation Of Opinions Which He Disbelieves And Abhors Is Sinful And Tyrannical...a Wise And Frugal Government...shall Not Take From The Mouth Of Labor The Bread It Has Earned...congress Has Not Unlimited Powers To Provide For The General Welfare But Only Those Specifically Enumerated...would It Not Be Better To Simplify The System Of Taxation Rather Than To Spread It Over Such A Variety Of Subjects And Pass Through So Many New Hands?
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Above All I Hope That The Education Of The Common People Will Be Attended To So They Won't Forget The Basic Principles Of Freedom.
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Perfection In Wisdom, As Well As In Integrity, Is Neither Required Nor Expected In These Agents (public Servants). It Belongs Not To Man. The Wise Know Too Well Their Weaknesses To Assume Infallibility; And He Who Knows Most, Knows Best How Little He Knows.
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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.
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Mankind Are More Disposed To Suffer, While Evils Are Sufferable, Than To Right Themselves By Abolishing The Forms To Which They Are Accustomed.
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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.
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The Happiest Moments My Heart Knows Are Those In Which It Is Pouring Forth Its Affections To A Few Esteemed Characters.
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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
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Not Less Than Two Hours A Day Should Be Devoted To Exercise, And The Weather Shall Be Little Regarded. If The Body Is Feeble, The Mind Will Not Be Strong.
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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.
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All The World Would Be Christian If They Were Taught The Pure Gospel Of Christ!.
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Our Greatest Happiness Does Not Depend On The Condition Of Life In Which Chance Has Placed Us, But Is Always The Result Of A Good Conscience, Good Health, Occupation, And Freedom In All Just Pursuits.
Inspirational
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I Have Never Been Able To Conceive How Any Rational Being Could Propose Happiness To Himself From The Exercise Of Power Over Others.
Humility
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Action Will Delineate And Define You.
Motivational
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Anarchy [is] Necessarily Consequent To Inefficiency.
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[i]t Seems That The Cannibals Of Europe Are Going To Eat One Another Again. A War Between Russia And Turkey Is Like The Battle Of The Kite And Snake; Whichever Destroys The Other, Leaves A Destroyer The Less For The World.
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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.
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Exercise And Application Produce Order In Our Affairs, Health Of Body, Cheerfulness Of Mind, And These Make Us Precious To Our Friends
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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.
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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.
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The Possession Of Facts Is Knowledge; The Use Of Them Is Wisdom.
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Unless The Mass Retains Sufficient Control Over Those Entrusted With The Powers Of Their Government, These Will Be Perverted To Their Own Oppression, And To The Perpetuation Of Wealth And Power In The Individuals And Their Families Selected For The Trust.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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None But An Armed Nation Can Dispense With A Standing Army. To Keep Ours Armed And Disciplined Is Therefore At All Times Important.
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If Some Period Be Not Fixed, Either By The Constitution Or By Practice, To The Services Of The First Magistrate, His Office, Though Nominally Elective, Will, In Fact, Be For Life, And That Will Soon Degenerate Into An Inheritance.
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There Are Two Amendments Only Which I Am Anxious For: 1. A Bill Of Rights, Which It Is So Much The Interest Of All To Have That I Conceive It Must Be Yielded...2. The Restoring Of The Principle Of Necessary Rotation, Particularly To The Senate And Presidency, But Most Of All To The Last.
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When The People Are Afraid Of The Government, That's Tyranny. But When The Government Is Afraid Of The People, That's Liberty.
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For A People Who Are Free, And Who Mean To Remain So, A Well-organized And Armed Militia Is Their Best Security.
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Peace Is Our Passion.
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Would It Not Be Better To Simplify The System Of Taxation Rather Than To Spread It Over Such A Variety Of Subjects And Pass Through So Many New Hands.
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Private Enterprise Manages So Much Better All The Concerns To Which It Is Equal.
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How Soon The Labor Of Men Would Make A Paradise Of The Earth Were It Not For Misgovernment And A Diversion Of His Energies To Selfish Interests.
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The Majority, Oppressing An Individual, Is Guilty Of A Crime, Abuses Its Strength, And By Acting On The Law Of The Strongest Breaks Up The Foundations Of Society.
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The Bible Is The Cornerstone Of Liberty.
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I Would Observe To You That What Is Called Style In Writing Or Speaking Is Formed Very Early In Life While The Imagination Is Warm, And Impressions Are Permanent.
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So Inscrutable Is The Arrangement Of Causes And Consequences In This World, That A Two-penny Duty On Tea, Unjustly Imposed In A Sequestered Part Of It, Changes The Condition Of All Its Inhabitants.
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A Rising Nation, Spread Over A Wide And Fruitful Land, Traversing All The Seas With The Rich Production Of Their Industry.
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... 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.
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It Is As Useless To Argue With Those Who Have Renounced The Use Of Reason As To Administer Medication To The Dead.
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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.
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Nothing Can Be Believed But What One Sees, Or Has From An Eye Witness.
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I Never Considered A Difference Of Opinion In Politics, In Religion, In Philosophy, As Cause For Withdrawing From A Friend.
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It Is Better To Tolerate The Rare Instance Of A Parent Refusing To Let His Child Be Educated, Than To Shock The Common Feelings And Ideas By Forcible Asportation And Education Of The Infant Against The Will Of The Father.
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I, Place Economy Among The First & Most Important Republican Virtues, & Public Debt As The Greatest Of The Dangers To Be Feared
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The Legislative Powers Of Government Reach Actions Only And Not Opinions.
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It Is Reasonable That Everyone Who Asks Justice Should Do Justice
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What An Augmentation Of The Field For Jobbing, Speculating, Plundering, Office-building And Office-hunting Would Be Produced By An Assumption Of All The State Powers Into The Hands Of The General Government.
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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.
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To Instruct The Mass Of Our Citizens In These, Their Rights, Interests And Duties, As Men And Citizens...this Brings Us To The Point At Which Are To Commence The Higher Branches Of Education . . . . To Develop The Reasoning Faculties Of Our Youth, Enlarge Their Minds, Cultivate Their Morals, And Instill Into Them The Precepts Of Virtue And Order.
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It Behooves Every Man Who Values Liberty Of Conscience For Himself, To Resist Invasions Of It In The Case Of Others: Or Their Case May, By Change Of Circumstances, Become His Own.
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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.
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I Am Savage Enough To Prefer The Woods, The Wilds, And The Independence Of Monticello, To All The Brilliant Pleasures Of This Gaycapital [paris].
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Books May Be Classed From The Faculties Of The Mind
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There Is No King, Who, With Sufficient Force, Is Not Always Ready To Make Himself Absolute.
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Nature Intended Me For The Tranquil Pursuits Of Science By Rendering Them My Supreme Delight.
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The Inhabitants Of The Ceded Territory Shall Be Incorporated In The Union Of The United States, And Admitted As Soon As Possible, According To The Principles Of The Federal Constitution, To The Enjoyment Of All The Rights, Advantages, And Immunities, Of Citizens Of The United States; And, In The Mean Time, They Shall Be Maintained And Protected In The Free Enjoyment Of Their Liberty, Property, And The Religion Which They Profess.
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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.
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Stock Dealers And Banking Companies, By The Aid Of A Paper System, Are Enriching Themselves To The Ruin Of Our Country, And Swaying The Government By Their Possession Of The Printing Presses, Which Their Wealth Commands And By Any Other Means, Not Always Honorable To The Character Of Our Countrymen.
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Music, Drawing, Books, Invention & Exercise Will Be So Many Resources To You Against Ennui.
Educational
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The Sun Has Not Caught Me In Bed In Fifty Years.
Funny
Life
Good Morning
A Share In The Sovereignty Of The State, Which Is Exercised By The Citizens At Large, In Voting At Elections Is One Of The Most Important Rights Of The Subject, And In A Republic Ought To Stand Foremost In The Estimation Of The Law.
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Voting
Was The Government To Prescribe To Us Our Medicine And Diet, Our Bodies Would Be In Such Keeping As Our Souls Are Now.
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Medicine
It Is Part Of The American Character To Consider Nothing As Desperate.
Character
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Desperate
To Constrain The Brute Force Of The People, The European Governments Deem It Necessary To Keep Them Down By Hard Labor, Poverty And Ignorance, And To Take From Them, As From Bees, So Much Of Their Earnings, As That Unremitting Labor Shall Be Necessary To Obtain A Sufficient Surplus To Sustain A Scanty And Miserable Life.
Ignorance
Government
People
To Every Obstacle Oppose Patience, Perseverance And Soothing Language.
Perseverance
Adversity
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I Look To The Diffusion Of Light And Education As The Resource Most To Be Relied On For Ameliorating The Condition, Promoting The Virtue And Advancing The Happiness Of Man.
Educational
Men
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You Have Lived Longer Than I Have And Perhaps May Have Formed A Different Judgment On Better Grounds; But My Observations Do Not Enable Me To Say I Think Integrity The Characteristic Of Wealth. In General I Believe The Decisions Of The People, In A Body, Will Be More Honest And More Disinterested Than Those Of Wealthy Men.
Integrity
Believe
Men
The Information Of The People At Large Can Alone Make Them The Safe As They Are The Sole Depositary Of Our Political And Religious Freedom.
Religious
People
Political
Trial By Jury Is Part Of That Bright Constellation Which Has Gone Before Us And Guided Our Steps Through An Age Of Revolution And Reformation.
Age
Gone
Trials
It Should Be Remembered, As An Axiom Of Eternal Truth In Politics, That Whatever Power In Any Government Is Independent, Is Absolute Also.
Independent
Government
Should
Sir,-your Letter Of February The 18th Came To Hand On The 1st Instant; And The Request Of The History Of My Physical Habits Would Have Puzzled Me Not A Little, Had It Not Been For The Model With Which You Accompanied It, Of Doctor Rush's Answer To A Similar Inquiry. I Live So Much Like Other People, That I Might Refer To Ordinary Life As A History Of My Own. Like My Friend The Doctor, I Have Lived Temperately, Eating Very Little Animal Food, And That Not As An Aliment, So Much As A Condiment For The Vegetables, Which Constitute My Principle Diet.
Animal
Doctors
Hands
Our Business Is To Have Great Credit And To Use It Little.
Use
Credit
Littles
We Figure Great Careers Aren't Made. They're Experienced.
Careers
Figures
Made
The Children Of Israel In The Wilderness, Led By A Cloud By Day, And A Pillar Of Fire By Night.
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Night
Fire
The Power Of Making War Often Prevents It, And In Our Case Would Give Efficacy To Our Desire Of Peace.
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Natural Rights [are] The Objects For The Protection Of Which Society Is Formed And Municipal Laws Established.
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Does The Government Fear Us? Or Do We Fear The Government? When The People Fear The Government, Tyranny Has Found Victory. The Federal Government Is Our Servant, Not Our Master!
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Southern
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.
Country
Strong
Attachment
Experience Having Long Taught Me The Reasonableness Of Mutual Sacrifices Of Opinion Among Those Who Are To Act Together For Any Common Object, And The Expediency Of Doing What Good We Can; When We Cannot Do All We Would Wish.
Sacrifice
Long
Wish
In The Constitution Of Spain As Proposed By The Late Cortes, There Was A Principle Entirely New To Me:... That No Person Born After That Day Should Ever Acquire The Rights Of Citizenship Until He Could Read And Write. It Is Impossible Sufficiently To Estimate The Wisdom Of This Provision. Of All Those Which Have Been Thought Of For Securing Fidelity In The Administration Of The Government, Constant Reliance To The Principles Of The Constitution, And Progressive Amendments With The Progressive Advances Of The Human Mind Or Changes In Human Affairs, It Is The Most Effectual.
Writing
Rights
Government
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
The Opinions And Beliefs Of Men Follow Involuntarily The Evidence Proposed To Their Minds.
Freedom
Men
Mind
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
Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People.
People
Liberty
Mass
No Provision In Our Constitution Ought To Be Dearer To Man Than That Which Protects The Rights Of Conscience Against The Enterprises Of The Civil Authority.
Men
America
Rights
The Spirit Of The Times May Alter, Will Alter. Our Rulers Will Become Corrupt, Our People Careless... From The Conclusion Of This War We Shall Be Going Downhill. It Will Not Then Be Necessary To Resort Every Moment To The People For Support. They Will Be Forgotten, Therefore, And Their Rights Disregarded. They Will Forget Themselves, But In The Sole Faculty Of Making Money, And Will Never Think Of Uniting To Affect A Due Respect For Their Rights. The Shackles, Therefore, Will Be Made Heavier And Heavier, Till Our Rights Shall Revive Or Expire In A Convulsion.
War
Thinking
Rights
I Sincerely Join You In Abjuring All Political Connection With Every Foreign Power; And Tho I Cordially Wish Well To The Progress Of Liberty In All Nations, And Would Forever Give It The Weight Of Our Countenance, Yet They Are Not To Be Touched Without Contamination From Their Other Bad Principles. Commerce With All Nations, Alliance With None, Should Be Our Motto.
Giving
Forever
Political
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
Let The Farmer Forevermore Be Honored In His Calling; For They Who Labor In The Earth Are The Chosen People Of God.
Agriculture
People
Calling
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
It Is Between Fifty And Sixty Years Since I Read It (i.e. The Book Of Revelations), And I Then Considered It Merely The Ravings Of A Maniac, No More Worthy Nor Capable Of Explanation Than The Incoherence Of Our Own Nightly Dreams.
Dream
Religious
Book
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
No Government Can Be Maintained Without The Principle Of Fear As Well As Duty. Good Men Will Obey The Last, But Bad Ones The Former Only. If Our Government Ever Fails, It Will Be From This Weakness.
Men
Good Man
Weakness
Give Up Money, Give Up Fame, Give Up Science, Give The Earth Itself And All It Contains, Rather Than Do An Immoral Act.
Giving Up
Earth
Morality
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
Every Nation Has A Right To Govern Itself Internally Under What Forms It Pleases, And To Change These Forms At Its Own Will.
Form
Please
Nations
Never Suppose That In Any Possible Situation Or Under Any Circumstances That It Is Best For You To Do A Dishonorable Thing However Slightly So It May Appear To You... Encourage All Your Virtuous Dispositions, And Exercise Them Whenever An Opportunity Arises, Being Assured That They Will Gain Strength By Exercise ... And That Exercise Will Make Them Habitual.
Truth
Lying
Exercise
The Chief Purpose Of Government Is To Protect Life. Abandon That And You Have Abandoned All.
Government
Purpose
Abandoned
Whenever Any Form Of Government Becomes Destructive Of These Ends [life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness] It Is The Right Of The People To Alter Or Abolish It, And To Institute New Government.
Pursuit Of Happiness
Government
People
We Believe No More In Bonaparte's Fighting Merely For The Liberties Of The Seas Than In Great Britain's Fighting For The Liberties Of Mankind. The Object Is The Same, To Draw To Themselves The Power, The Wealth And The Resources Of Other Nations.
Believe
Fighting
Sea
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident, That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Inalienable Rights, Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness, That To Secure These Rights Governments Are Instituted Among Men. We...solemnly Publish And Declare, That These Colonies Are And Of A Right Ought To Be Free And Independent States...and For The Support Of This Declaration, With A Firm Reliance On The Protection Of Divine Providence, We Mutually Pledge Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honour.
Independent
Men
Pursuit Of Happiness
Never Yet Could I Find That A Black Had Uttered A Thought Above The Level Of Plain Narration; Never Saw Even An Elemental Trait Of Painting Or Sculpture.
Black
Sculpture
Levels
Most Codes Extend Their Definitions Of Treason To Acts Not Really Against One's Country. They Do Not Distinguish Between Acts Against The Government, And Acts Against The Oppressions Of The Government. The Latter Are Virtues, Yet Have Furnished More Victims To The Executioner Than The Former. Real Treasons Are Rare; Oppressions Frequent. The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.
Country
Real
Government
The Office Of Reformer Of The Superstitions Of A Nation, Is Ever More Dangerous. Jesus Had To Work On The Perilous Confines Of Reason And Religion; And A Step To The Right Or Left Might Place Him Within The Grasp Of The Priests Of The Superstition, A Bloodthirsty Race, As Cruel And Remorseless As The Being Whom They Represented As The Family God Of Abraham, Of Isaac And Of Jacob, And The Local God Of Israel. That Jesus Did Not Mean To Impose Himself On Mankind As The Son Of God, Physically Speaking, I Have Been Convinced By The Writings Of Men More Learned Than Myself In That Lore.
Jesus
Mean
Writing
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?
Hypocrite
Errors
Support
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.
Government
America
People
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
If By Religion We Are To Understand Sectarian Dogmas, In Which No Two Of Them Agree, Then Your Exclamation On That Hypothesis Is Just, "that This Would Be The Best Of Worlds If There Were No Religion In It.
Two
Would Be
World
Ministers Of The Gospel Are Excluded [from Serving As Visitors Of The County Elementary Schools] To Avoid Jealousy From The Other Sects, Were The Public Education Committed To The Ministers Of A Particular One; And With More Reason Than In The Case Of Their Exclusion From The Legislative And Executive Functions.
Religious
School
Visitors
A Government Regulating Itself By What Is Wise And Just For The Many, Uninfluenced By The Local And Selfish Views Of The Few Who Direct Their Affairs, Has Not Been Seen, Perhaps, On Earth. Or If It Existed For A Moment At The Birth Of Ours, It Would Not Be Easy To Fix The Term Of Its Continuance. Still, I Believe It Does Exist Here In A Greater Degree Than Anywhere Else; And For Its Growth And Continuance... I Offer Sincere Prayers.
Wise
Prayer
Selfish
Enlighten The People Generally, And Tyranny And Oppressions Of Body And Mind Will Vanish Like Evil Spirits At The Dawn Of Day.
Inspiring
Education
Patriotic
I Advance It Therefore As A Suspicion Only, That The Blacks, Whether Originally A Distinct Race, Or Made Distinct By Time And Circumstances, Are Inferior To The Whites In The Endowments Of Both Body And Mind.
Race
Racism
Mind
My Principles, And Those Always Received By The Republicans, Do Not Admit To Removing Any Person From Office Merely For A Difference Of Political Opinion. Malversations In Office, And The Exerting Of Official Influence To Control The Freedom Of Election Are Good Causes For Removal.
Political Opinions
Differences
Office
It Is For The Benefit Of Mankind To Mitigate The Horrors Of War As Much As Possible.
War
Benefits
Horror
The Moment A Person Forms A Theory, His Imagination Sees In Every Object Only The Traits Which Favor That Theory.
Love Life
Imagination
Favors
I Am Conscious That An Equal Division Of Property Is Impracticable, But The Consequences Of This Enormous Inequality Producing So Much Misery To The Bulk Of Mankind, Legislators Cannot Invent Too Many Devices For Subdividing Property.
Wisdom
Division
Politics
I Deplore With You The Putrid State Into Which Our Newspapers Have Passed, And The Malignity, The Vulgarity, And Mendacious Spirit Of Those Who Write For Them. ... This Has In A Great Degree Been Produced By The Violence And Malignity Of Party Spirit.
Party
Writing
Degrees
None But An Armed Nation Can Dispense With A Standing Army
Army
Gun Rights
Standing
Every Male Citizen Of The Commonwealth, Liable To Taxes Or To Militia Duty In Any County, Shall Have A Right To Vote For Representatives For That County To The Legislature.
Voting
Males
Citizens
There Is Not In The British Empire A Man Who More Cordially Loves A Union With Great Britain Than I Do. But By The God That Made Me, I Will Cease To Exist Before I Yield To A Connection On Such Terms As The British Parliament Propose.
Men
Yield
Connections
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
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
Our Minds And Hearts Are Free To Believe Everything Or Nothing At All - And It Is Our Duty To Protect And Perpetuate This Sacred Culture Of Freedom.
Believe
Heart
Mind
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
Religious Institutions That Use Government Power In Support Of Themselves And Force Their Views On Persons Of Other Faiths, Or Of No Faith, Undermine All Our Civil Rights. Moreover, State Support Of An Established Religion Tends To Make The Clergy Unresponsive To Their Own People, And Leads To Corruption Within Religion Itself. Erecting The 'wall Of Separation Between Church And State,' Therefore, Is Absolutely Essential In A Free Society.
Religious
Wall
Rights
I Am Persuaded Myself That The Good Sense Of The People Will Always Be Found To Be The Best Army. They May Be Led Astray For A Moment, But Will Soon Correct Themselves. The People Are The Only Censors Of Their Governors; And Even Their Errors Will Tend To Keep These To The True Principles Of Their Institution.
Army
Errors
People
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
It Is A Wise Rule And Should Be Fundamental In A Government Disposed To Cherish Its Credit, And At The Same Time To Restrain The Use Of It Within The Limits Of Its Faculties, "never To Borrow A Dollar Without Laying A Tax In The Same Instant For Paying The Interest Annually, And The Principal Within A Given Term; And To Consider That Tax As Pledged To The Creditors On The Public Faith."
Wise
Government
Dollars
I Recoil With Horror At The Ferociousness Of Man. Will Nations Never Devise A More Rational Umpire Of Differences Than Force? Are There No Means Of Coercing Injustice More Gratifying To Our Nature Than A Waste Of The Blood Of Thousands And Of The Labor Of Millions Of Our Fellow Creatures?
Mean
Men
Blood
The Most Effectual Means Of Preventing The Perversion Of Power Into Tyranny Are To Illuminate, As Far As Practicable, The Minds Of The People At Large, And More Especially To Give Them Knowledge Of Those Facts Which History Exhibits, That Possessed Thereby Of The Experience Of Other Ages And Countries, They May Be Enabled To Know Ambition Under All Its Shapes, And Prompt To Exert Their Natural Powers To Defeat Its Purposes.
Country
Ambition
Mean
Blest Is That Nation Whose Silent Course Of Happiness Furnishes Nothing For History To Say.
Silent
Courses
Nations
I Am Mortified To Be Told That, In The United States Of America, The Sale Of A Book Can Become A Subject Of Inquiry, And Of Criminal Inquiry Too.
Book
Thinking
America
Should [reformers] Attempt More Than The Established Habits Of The People Are Ripe For, They May Lose All And Retard Indefinitely The Ultimate Object Of Their Aim.
People
May
Revolution
The Christian God Is A Being Of Terrific Character - Cruel, Vindictive, Capricious And Unjust.
Christian
Character
Religion
I Hope The Necessity Will At Length Be Seen Of Establishing Institutions, Here As In Europe, Where Every Branch Of Science, Useful At This Day, May Be Taught In It's Highest Degrees.
Educational
Europe
Degrees
The Art Of Printing Secures Us Against The Retrogradation Of Reason And Information.
Art
Information
Civil Rights
I Am For A Government Rigorously Frugal & Simple, Applying All The Possible Savings Of The Public Revenue To The Discharge Of The National Debt; And Not For A Multiplication Of Officers & Salaries Merely To Make Partisans, & For Increasing, By Every Device, The Public Debt, On The Principle Of Its Being A Public Blessing.
Blessing
Simple
Government
I Am Sorry They Began Their Deliberations By So Abominable A Precedent As That Of Tying Up The Tongues Of Their Members. Nothing Can Justify This Example But The Innocence Of Their Intentions And Ignorance Of The Value Of Public Discussions. I Have No Doubt That All Their Other Measures Will Be Good And Wise. It Is Really An Assembly Of Demigods.
Wise
Sorry
Ignorance
Of All Exercises, Walking Is The Best.
Life
Exercise
Journey
Up Until The Late Unpleasantness Of The Civil War, Then, The Right Of Secession Was More Or Less Taken For Granted In Many Quarters, And There Has Never Been Any Amendment Or Even A Supreme Court Decision Saying It's Improper. - Samual Francis, Secession May Be Legal But Not Expedient, Conservative Chronicles 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.
War
Taken
Errors
The Hole And The Patch Should Be Commensurate.
Inspirational
Design
Holes
One Insult Pocketed Soon Produces Another.
War
Political
Insult
The People Are The Ultimate Guardians Of Their Own Liberties. In Every Government On Earth Is Some Trace Of Human Weakness, Some Germ Of Corruption And Degeneracy . . . Every Government Degenerates When Trusted To The Rulers Of The People Alone.
Government
People
Liberty
A Mind Always Employed Is Always Happy.
Labor Day
Mind
May Day
Students Of Reading, Writing And Common Arithmetick . . . Graecian [greek], Roman, English And American History . . . Should Be Rendered . . . Worthy To Receive, And Able To Guard The Sacred Deposit Of The Rights And Liberties Of Their Fellow Citizens.
Education
Reading
Writing
In Our Richmond There Is Much Fanaticism, But Chiefly Among The Women. They Have Their Night Meetings And Prayer Parties, Where, Attended By Their Priests, And Sometimes By A Hen-pecked Husband, They Pour Forth The Effusions Of Their Love To Jesus, In Terms As Amatory And Carnal, As Their Modesty Would Permit Them To Use A Mere Earthly Lover.
Jesus
Prayer
Husband
A Society That Will Trade A Little Liberty For A Little Order Will Lose Both, And Deserve Neither.
Inspirational
Success
Order
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.
Art
Citizens
Inquiry
If A Due Participation Of Office Is A Matter Of Right, How Are Vacancies To Be Obtained? Those By Death Are Few; By Resignation, None.
Office
Vacancy
Politics
We Never Repent Of Having Eaten Too Little.
Inspirational
Food
Weight Loss
Men Fight For Freedom; Then They Begin To Accumulate Laws To Take It Away From Themselves.
Freedom
Fighting
Men
Perhaps It Will Be Found That To Obtain A Just Republic (and It Is To Secure Our Just Rights That We Resort To Government At All) It Must Be So Extensive As That Local Egoisms May Never Reach Its Greater Part; That On Every Particular Question, A Majority May Be Found In Its Councils Free From Particular Interests, And Giving, Therefore, An Uniform Prevalence To The Principles Of Justice.
Rights
Government
Giving
The Genius Of Architecture Seems To Have Shed Its Maledictions Over This Land.
Land
Genius
Architecture
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
Having Labored Faithfully In Establishing The Right Of Self-government, We See In The Rising Generation, Into Whose Hands It Is Passing, That Purity Of Principle And Energy Of Character Which Will Protect And Preserve It Through Their Day, And Deliver It Over To Their Sons As They Receive It From Their Fathers.
Father
Character
Son
If A Nation Expects To Be Ignorant And Free, It Expects What Never Was And Never Will Be ... The People Cannot Be Safe Without Information. When The Press Is Free, And Every Man Is Able To Read, All Is Safe.
Truth
Men
People
Who Better To So Softly Bind The Wound Of One, Than She Who Has Suffered The Wound Herself.
Wounds
The Happiness Of Society Depends So Much On Preventing Party Spirit From Infecting The Common Intercourse Of Life, That Nothing Should Be Spared To Harmonize And Amalgamate The Two Parties In Social Circles.
Party
Circles
Two
Peace, That Glorious Moment In Time When Everyone Stops And Reloads.
Moments
Moments In Time
Glorious
No Nation Is Drunken Where Wine Is Cheap, And None Sober Where The Dearness Of Wine Substitutes Ardent Spirits As The Common Beverage
Wine
Alcohol
Vineyards
It Look Like The Lord Just Work For Wite Folks Cause Ever Sens I Wasn Nothin But A Litle Boy I Been On My On Haulin Water To The Fiel On That Ol Water Cart Wit All Them Dime Bukets An That Dipper Just Hittin An Old Dorthy Just Trottin And Trottin An Me Up Their Hittin Her Wit That Rope.
Boys
Water
Dying
You Have Never By A Word Or A Deed Given Me One Moment's Uneasiness; On The Contrary I Have Felt Perpetual Gratitude To Heaven Forhaving Given Me, In You, A Source Of So Much Pure And Unmixed Happiness.
Family
Happiness
Gratitude
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
There Is A Debt Of Service Due From Every Man To His Country, Proportioned To The Bounties Which Nature And Fortune Have Measured To Him.
Country
Men
Debt
Civil Officials Have No Business Meddling In Private Religious Affairs.
Religious
Religion
Atheism
I Have Always Said That A Studious Perusal Of The Sacred Volume Will Make Better Citizens, Better Fathers, And Better Husbands.
Bible
Husband
Father
The Whole Art Of Government Consists In The Art Of Being Honest.
Art
Honesty
Government
When Once A Republic Is Corrupted, There Is No Possibility Of Remedying Any Of The Growing Evils But By Removing The Corruption And Restoring Its Lost Principles; Every Other Correction Is Either Useless Or A New Evil.
Evil
Voting
Principles
Political Interest [can] Never Be Separated In The Long Run From Moral Right.
Running
Character
Long
Where Everyman Is Participator In The Government Of Affairs, Not Merely At An Election One Day In The Year But Everyday, He Will Let The Heart Be Torn Out Of His Body Sooner Than His Power Be Wrested From Him By A Caesar Or A Bonaparte.
Heart
Government
Years
The World Is Indebted For All Triumphs Which Have Been Gained By Reason And Humanity Over Error And Oppression.
Errors
Humanity
Triumph
Taxes Should Be Continued By Annual Or Biennial Reeactments, Because A Constant Hold, By The Nation, Of The Strings Of The Public Purse Is A Salutary Restraint From Which An Honest Government Ought Not Wish, Nor A Corrupt One To Be Permitted, To Be Free.
Government
Wish
Taxation
We Should Talk Over The Lessons Of The Day, Or Lose Them In Music, Chess, Or The Merriments Of Our Family Companions.
Lessons
Chess
Should
If Any State In The Union Will Declare That It Prefers Separation... To A Continuance In Union... I Have No Hesitation In Saying, 'let Us Separate.
Unions
Separation
States
The Objects Of This Primary Education . . . Would Be . . . To Form The Statesmen, Legislators And Judges, On Whom Public Prosperity And Individual Happiness Are So Much To Depend.
Education
Individual Happiness
Judging
There Is Preparing, I Hope, Under The Auspices Of Heaven, A Way For A Total Emancipation.
Heaven
Way
Emancipation
The Idea Is Quite Unfounded That On Entering Into Society We Give Up Any Natural Rights.
Giving Up
Rights
Ideas
Those Who Would Trade Safety For Freedom Deserve Neither.
Safety
Trade
Deserve
Be A Listener Only, Keep Within Yourself, And Endeavor To Establish With Yourself The Habit Of Silence, Especially In Politics.
Silence
Political
Politics
Knowledge Is Power...knowled Ge Is Safety...knowle Dge Is Happiness.
Safety
Knowledge Is Power
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
A Coward Is Much More Exposed To Quarrels Than A Man Of Spirit.
War
Men
Spirit
What Is It Men Cannot Be Made To Believe!
Honesty
Integrity
Believe
When We Come To The Moral Principles On Which The Government Is To Be Administered, We Come To What Is Proper For All Conditions Of Society. Liberty, Truth, Probity, Honor, Are Declared To Be The Four Cardinal Principles Of Society. I Believe That Morality, Compassion, Generosity, Are Innate Elements Of The Human Constitution; That There Exists A Right Independent Of Force.
Believe
Independent
Compassion
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
War Is Not The Best Engine For Us To Resort To; Nature Has Given Us One In Our Commerce, Which If Properly Managed, Will Be A Better Instrument For Obliging The Interested Nations Of Europe To Treat Us With Justice.
War
Europe
Justice
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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