Background Image

...

Nothing Is More Incumbent On The Old Than To Know When They Should Get Out Of The Way And Relinquish To Younger Successors The Honors They Can No Longer Earn, And The Duties They Can No Longer Perform.

-Thomas Jefferson

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Nothing Is More Incumbent

Thomas Jefferson

...

Nothing Is More Incumbent On The Old Than To Know When They Should Get Out Of The Way And Relinquish To Younger Successors The Honors They Can No Longer Earn, And The Duties They Can No Longer Perform.

Views: 7

Topic

More From Thomas Jefferson

Health, Learning And Virtue Will Ensure Your Happiness; They Will Give You A Quiet Conscience, Private Esteem And Public Honour.

A Cold-blooded, Calculation, Unprincipled, Usurper, Without A Virtue, No Statesman, Knowing Nothing Of Commerce, Political Economy, Or Civil Government, And Supplying Ignorance By Bold Presumption.

Knowing Nothing

To Draw Around The Whole Nation The Strength Of The General Government As A Barrier Against Foreign Foes... Is [one Of The] Functions Of The General Government On Which [our Citizens] Have A Right To Call.

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.

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.

I Would Rather Have Newspapers Without A Government Than A Government Without Newspapers.

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.

The Will Of The People Is The Only Legitimate Foundation Of Any Government, And To Protect Its Free Expression Should Be Our First Object.

Agriculture, Manufactures, Commerce, And Navigation, The Four Pillars Of Our Prosperity, Are The Most Thriving When Left Most Free To Individual Enterprise.

It Would Not Be For The Public Good To Have [a Majority In Congress Of One Party] Greater [than] Two To One.

Time Indeed Changes Manners And Notions, And So Far We Must Expect Institutions To Bend To Them. But Time Produces Also Corruption Of Principles, And Against This It Is The Duty Of Good Citizens To Be Ever On The Watch, And If The Gangrene Is To Prevail At Last, Let The Day Be Kept Off As Long As Possible.

I Wish To See This Beverage Become Common Instead Of The Whiskey Which Kills Sone-third Of Our Citizens And Ruins Their Families.

Never Use One Word When Two Will Do.

The Constitutions Of Most Of Our States Assert That All Power Is Inherent In The People; That... It Is Their Right And Duty To Be At All Times Armed.

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

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

That Peace, Safety, And Concord May Be The Portion Of Our Native Land, And Be Long Enjoyed By Our Fellow-citizens, Is The Most Ardent Wish Of My Heart, And If I Can Be Instrumental In Procuring Or Preserving Them, I Shall Think I Have Not Lived In Vain.

Among The Values Of Classical Learning I Estimate The Luxury Of Reading The Greek & Roman Authors In All The Beauties Of Their Originals ... I Think Myself More Indebted To My Father For This, Than For All The Other Luxuries His Cares And Affections Have Placed Within My Reach.

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

A Good Cause Is Often Injured More By Ill-timed Efforts Of Its Friends Than By The Arguments Of Its Enemies. Persuasion, Perseverance And Patience Are The Best Advocates On Questions Depending On The Will Of Others.

But Of All The Views Of This Law [universal Education] None Is More Important, None More Legitimate, Than That Of Rendering The People The Safe, As They Are The Ultimate, Guardians Of Their Own Liberty.

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.

It Is A Moot Question Whether The Origin Of Any Kind Of Property Is Derived From Nature At All. It Is Agreed By Those Who Have Seriously Considered The Subject That No Individual Has, Of Natural Right, A Separate Property In An Acre Of Land, For Instance. By A Universal Law, Indeed, Whatever, Whether Fixed Or Movable, Belongs To All Men Equally And In Common Is The Property For The Moment Of Him Who Occupies It; But When He Relinquishes The Occupation, The Property Goes With It. Stable Ownership Is The Gift Of Social Law, And Is Given Late In The Progress Of Society.

Progress Of Society

I Like The Power Given The Legislature To Levy Taxes, And For That Reason Solely Approve Of The Greater House Being Chosen By The People Directly.

I Have Great Confidence In The Common Sense Of Mankind In General.

Our People Shall Be Free

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.

I Am A Real Christian, That Is To Say, A Cisciple Of The Doctrines Of Jesus. I Have Little Doubt That Our Whole Country Will Soon Be Rallied To The Unity Of Our Creator.

If Science Produces No Better Fruits Than Tyranny... I Would Rather Wish Our Country To Be Ignorant, Honest And Estimable As Our Neighbouring Savages Are.

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.

Truth Is Certainly A Branch Of Morality And A Very Important One To Society.

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.

Private Fortunes, In The Present State Of Our Circulation, Are At The Mercy Of Those Self-created Money Lenders, And Are Prostrated By The Floods Of Nominal Money With Which Their Avarice Deluges Us.

Walking Is The Best Possible Exercise. Habituate Yourself To Walk Very Far. The Europeans Value Themselves On Having Subdued The Horse To The Uses Of Man; But I Doubt Whether We Have Not Lost More Than We Have Gained, By The Use Of This Animal.

No One, I Hope, Can Doubt My Wish To See... All Mankind Exercising Self-government, And Capable Of Exercising It. But The Question Is Not What We Wish, But What Is Practicable.

We May Consider Each Generation As A Distinct Nation, With A Right, By The Will Of Its Majority, To Bind Themselves, But None To Bind The Succeeding Generation, More Than The Inhabitants Of Another Country.

Delay Is Preferable To Error.

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

The Steady Character Of Our Countrymen Is A Rock To Which We May Safely Moor; And Notwithstanding The Efforts Of The Papers To Disseminate Early Discontents, I Expect That A Just, Dispassionate And Steady Conduct, Will At Length Rally To A Proper System The Great Body Of Our Country. Unequivocal In Principle, Reasonable In Manner, We Shall Be Able I Hope To Do A Great Deal Of Good To The Cause Of Freedom & Harmony.

To Take A Single Step Beyond The Boundaries Specially Drawn Around The Powers Of Congress Is To Take Possession Of A Boundless Field Of Power, No Longer Susceptible To Definition.

I Never Saw An Instance Of One Or Two Disputants Convincing The Other By Argument.

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

The Bible Is The Cornerstone Of Liberty.

Not To Find Out New Principles, Or New Arguments, Never Before Thought Of . . . But To Place Before Mankind The Common Sense Of The Subject, In Terms So Plain And Firm As To Command Their Assent, And To Justify Ourselves In The Independent Stand We Are Compelled To Take.

Blest Is That Nation Whose Silent Course Of Happiness Furnishes Nothing For History To Say.

The System Of Banking Have[for]ever Reprobated. I Contemplate It As A Blot Left In All Our Constitutions, Which, If Not Covered, Will End In Their Destruction, Which Is Already Hit By The Gamblers In Corruption, And Is Sweeping Away In Its Progress The Fortunes And Morals Of Our Citizens.

I Have Come To A Resolution Myself As I Hope Every Good Citizen Will, Never Again To Purchase Any Article Of Foreign Manufacture Which Can Be Had Of American Make, Be The Difference Of Price What It May.

The Clergy Converted The Simple Teachings Of Jesus Into An Engine For Enslaving Mankind And Adulterated By Artificial Constructions Into A Contrivance To Filch Wealth And Power To Themselves...these Clergy, In Fact, Constitute The Real Anti-christ.

Although We Are Free By The Law, We Are Not So In Practice.

What Has Destroyed Liberty And The Rights Of Man In Every Government Which Has Ever Existed Under The Sun? The Generalizing And Concentrating All Cares And Power Into One Body, No Matter Whether Of The Autocrats Of Russia Or France, Or Of The Aristocrats Of A Venetian Senate.

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.

War Is An Instrument Entirely Inefficient Toward Redressing Wrong; And Multiplies, Instead Of Indemnifying Losses.

The Ground Of Liberty Is To Be Gained By Inches, And We Must Be Contented To Secure What We Can Get From Time To Time And Eternally Press Forward For What Is Yet To Get. It Takes Time To Persuade Men To Do Even What Is For Their Own Good.

Big Banks Are More Dangerous Than Standing Armies, And The Practice Of Borrowing And Spending Money To Be Paid Back By The Next Generation Is Stealing From Their Future.

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

I Love Peace, And Am Anxious That We Should Give The World Still Another Useful Lesson, By Showing To Them Other Modes Of Punishing Injuries Than By War, Which Is As Much A Punishment To The Punisher As To The Sufferer.

All Authority Belongs To The People.

Books May Be Classed From The Faculties Of The Mind

The Law Of Self-preservation Is Higher Than Written Law.

A Right To Property Is Founded In Our Natural Wants, In The Means With Which We Are Endowed To Satisfy These Wants, And The Right To What We Acquire By Those Means Without Violating The Similar Rights Of Other Sensible Beings.

By Nature's Law, Every Man Has A Right To Seize And Retake By Force His Own Property Taken From Him By Another, By Force Of Fraud. Nor Is This Natural Right Among The First Which Is Taken Into The Hands Of Regular Government After It Is Instituted. It Was Long Retained By Our Ancestors. It Was A Part Of Their Common Law, Laid Down In Their Books, Recognized By All The Authorities, And Regulated As To Circumstances Of Practice.

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.

To Take From One Because It Is Thought That His Own Industry And That Of His Father's Has Acquired Too Much, In Order To Spare To Others, Who, Or Whose Fathers Have Not Exercised Equal Industry And Skill, Is To Violate Arbitrarily The First Principle Of Association-the Guarantee To Every One Of A Free Exercise Of His Industry And The Fruits Acquired By It.

It Is More Honorable To Repair A Wrong Than To Persist In It.

Let Common Sense And Common Honesty Have Fair Play, And They Will Soon Set Things To Rights.

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

Those Who Wish To Be Ignorant And Free, Believe In Something That Never Was And Never Shall Be.

Health Is Value Greater Than Studying.

Preachers Dread The Advance Of Science As Witches Do The Approach Of Daylight.

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.

This Doctrine ['that The Condition Of Man Cannot Be Ameliorated, That What Has Been Must Ever Be, And That To Secure Ourselves Where We Are We Must Tread With Awful Reverence In The Footsteps Of Our Fathers']is The Genuine Fruit Of The Alliance Between Church And State, The Tenants Of Which Finding Themselves But Too Well In Their Present Condition, Oppose All Advances Which Might Unmask Their Usurpations And Monopolies Of Honors, Wealth And Power, And Fear Every Change As Endangering The Comforts They Now Hold.

I Cannot Live Without Books.

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.

By A Declaration Of Rights, I Mean One Which Shall Stipulate Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of The Press, Freedom Of Commerce Against Monopolies, Trial By Juries In All Cases, No Suspensions Of The Habeas Corpus, No Standing Armies. These Are Fetters Against Doing Evil Which No Honest Government Should Decline.

The Failure Of One Thing Is Repaired By The Success Of Another.

How Did Jefferson Feel About The People Of His Day Who Were The Equivalent Of Our Modern Day Penecostals? You Know, Those Revelation Reveling Tongue Speaking Idiots.

Political Interest [can] Never Be Separated In The Long Run From Moral Right.

Under The Law Of Nature, All Men Are Born Free, Every One Comes Into The World With A Right To His Own Person, Which Includes The Liberty Of Moving And Using It At His Own Will. This Is What Is Called Personal Liberty, And Is Given Him By The Author

The Way To Silence Religious Disputes Is To Take No Notice Of Them.

Never Trouble Another For What You Can Do Yourself

There Is No Habit You Will Value So Much As That Of Walking Far Without Fatigue.

Our Constitution... Has Not Left The Religion Of Its Citizens Under The Power Of Its Public Functionaries, Were It Possible That Any Of These Should Consider A Conquest Over The Conscience Of Men Either Attainable Or Applicable To Any Desirable Purpose.

It Is A Cruel Thought, That, When We Feel Ourselves Standing On The Firmest Ground In Every Respect, The Cursed Arts Of Our Secret Enemies, Combining With Other Causes, Should Effect, By Depreciating Our Money, What The Open Arms Of A Powerful Enemy Could Not.

The Constitution Has Erected No Such Single Tribunal, Knowing That To Whatever Hands Confided, With The Corruption's Of Time And Party, Its Members Would Become Despots.

Were I To Be The Founder Of A New Sect, I Would Call Them Apiarians, And, After The Example Of The Bee, Advise Them To Extract The Honey Of Every Sect. My Fundamental Principle Would Be ... That We Are To Be Saved By Our Good Works Which Are Within Our Power, And Not By Our Faith Which Is Not Within Our Power.

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.

Independence Can Be Trusted Nowhere But With The People In Mass. They Are Inherently Independent Of All But Moral Law.

But, You May Ask, If The Two Departments [i.e., Federal And State] Should Claim Each The Same Subject Of Power, Where Is The Common Umpire To Decide Ultimately Between Them? In Cases Of Little Importance Or Urgency, The Prudence Of Both Parties Will Keep Them Aloof From The Questionable Ground; But If It Can Neither Be Avoided Nor Compromised, A Convention Of The States Must Be Called To Ascribe The Doubtful Power To That Department Which They May Think Best.

But Under The Beaming, Constant And Almost Vertical Sun Of Virginia, Shade Is Our Elysium. In The Absence Of This No Beauty Of The Eye Can Be Enjoyed.

If You Have To Eat Crow, Eat It While It's Young And Tender.

I, Place Economy Among The First & Most Important Republican Virtues, & Public Debt As The Greatest Of The Dangers To Be Feared

Honesty And Interest Are As Intimately Connected In The Public As In The Private Code Of Morality.

Say Nothing Of My Religion. It Is Known To God And Myself Alone. Its Evidence Before The World Is To Be Sought In My Life: If It Has Been Honest And Dutiful To Society The Religion Which Has Regulated It Cannot Be A Bad One.

The Two Principles On Which Our Conduct Towards The Indians Should Be Founded Are Justice And Fear. After The Injuries We Have Done Them, They Cannot Love Us.

Force Cannot Give Right.

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.

Perfect Happiness, I Believe, Was Never Intended By The Deity To Be The Lot Of One Of His Creatures In This World; But That He Has Very Much Put In Our Power The Nearness Of Our Approaches To It Is What I Have Steadfastly Believed.

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.

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.

If We Are To Guard Against Ignorance And Remain Free, It Is The Responsibility Of Every American To Be Informed.

I Do Love This People [the French] With All My Heart, And Think That With A Better Religion And A Better Form Of Government And Their Present Governors Their Condition And Country Would Be Most Enviable.

The Plough Is To The Farmer What The Wand Is To The Sorcerer. Its Effect Is Really Like Sorcery.

It Should Be Our Endeavor To Cultivate The Peace And Friendship Of Every Nation, Even Of That Which Has Injured Us Most.

I Have Learnt To Expect That It Will Rarely Fall To The Lot Of Imperfect Man To Retire From This Station With The Reputation And The Favor Which Bring Him Into It.

A Strict Observance Of The Written Laws Is Doubtless One Of The Highest Virtues Of A Good Citizen, But It Is Not The Highest. The Laws Of Necessity, Of Self-preservation, Of Saving Our Country When In Danger, Are Of Higher Obligation. To Lose Our Country By A Scrupulous Adherence To Written Law Would Be To Lose The Law Itself, With Life, Liberty, Property And All Those Who Are Enjoying Them With Us; Thus Absurdly Sacrificing The End To The Means.

If The Happiness Of The Mass Of Mankind Can Be Secured At The Expense Of A Little Tempest Now And Then, Or Even Of A Little Blood, It Will Be A Precious Purchase.

The Interests Of The States... Ought To Be Made Joint In Every Possible Instance In Order To Cultivate The Idea Of Our Being One Nation, And To Multiply The Instances In Which The People Shall Look Up To Congress As Their Head.

For Themselves They Fought, For Themselves They Conquered, And For Themselves Alone They Have They Have Right To Hold.

No Person Shall Be Capable Of Being A Delegate For More Than Three Years In Any Term Of Six.

A Departure From Principle In One Instance Becomes A Precedent For A Second; That Second For A Third; And So On, Till The Bulk Of The Society Is Reduced To Be Mere Automatons Of Misery, To Have No Sensibilities Left But For Sin And Suffering.

Never [enter] Into Dispute Or Argument With Another. I Never Yet Saw An Instance Of One Of Two Disputants Convincing The Other By Argument. I Have Seen Many On Their Getting Warm, Becoming Rude And Shooting One Another.

If Anything Pass In A Religious Meeting Seditiously And Contrary To The Public Peace, Let It Be Punished In The Same Manner And No Otherwise Than As If It Had Happened In A Fair Or Market.

Positive Atheism

A Republic Will Avoid War Unless The Avoidance Might Create Conditions That Are Worse Than Warfare Itself. Sometimes, The Dispositions Of Those Who Choose To Make Themselves Our Enemies Leaves Us No Choice.

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 Moral Sense Is The First Excellence Of Well-organized Man.

To History Therefore I Must Refer For Answer, In Which It Would Be An Unhappy Passage Indeed, Which Should Shew By What Fatal Indulgence Of Subordinate Views And Passions, A Contest For An Atom Had Defeated Well Founded Prospects Of Giving Liberty To Half The Globe.

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.

There Is Not A Single Crowned Head In Europe Whose Talents Or Merit Would Entitle Him To Be Elected A Vestryman By The People Of Any Parish In America.

Question Boldly Even The Existence Of God.

Existence Of God

The Mass Of Our Citizens May Be Divided Into Two Classes -- The Laboring And The Learned. The Laboring Will Need The First Grade Of Education To Qualify Them For Their Pursuits And Duties; The Learned Will Need It As A Foundation For Further Acquirements.

The Man Who Reads Nothing At All Is Better Educated Than The Man Who Reads Nothing But Newspapers.

The Suppression Of Unnecessary Offices, Of Useless Establishments And Expenses Enabled Us To Discontinue Our Internal Taxes. These Covering Our Land With Officers, And Opening Our Doors To Their Intrusions, Had Already Begun That Process Of Domiciliary Vexation Which, Once Entered, Is Scarcely To Be Restrained From Reaching Successively Every Article Of Produce And Property.

We Are Now Vibrating Between Too Much And Too Little Government, And The Pendulum Will Rest Finally In The Middle.

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.

The Trifling Economy Of Paper, As A Cheaper Medium, Or Its Convenience For Transmission, Weighs Nothing In Opposition To The Advantages Of The Precious Metals It Is Liable To Be Abused, Has Been, Is, And Forever Will Be Abused, In Every Country In Which It Is Permitted.

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.

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 Expedition Of Messrs. Lewis & Clarke For Exploring The River Missouri, & The Best Communication From That To The Pacific Ocean, Has Had All The Success Which Could Have Been Expected.

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

It Has Been A Source Of Great Pain To Me To Have Met With So Many Among [my] Opponents Who Had Not The Liberality To Distinguish Between Political And Social Opposition; Who Transferred At Once To The Person, The Hatred They Bore To His Political Opinions.

Political Opinions

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.

There Is No Act, However Virtuous, For Which Ingenuity May Not Find Some Bad Motive.

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.

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

Inspirational Quotes On: Honesty, Simplicity, Secret, Universe, Modesty, Peace Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom.

Ridicule Is The Only Weapon Which Can Be Used Against Unintelligible Propositions.

We Sometimes From Dreams Pick Up Some Hint Worth Improving By Reflection.

You And I Have Formerly Seen Warm Debates And High Political Passions. But Gentlemen Of Different Politics Would Then Speak To Each Other And Separate The Business Of The Senate From That Of Society. It Is Not So Now. Men Who Have Been Intimate All Their Lives, Cross The Streets To Avoid Meeting, And Turn Their Heads Another Way, Lest They Should Be Obliged To Touch Their Hats. This May Do For Young Men With Whom Passion Is Enjoyment. But It Is Afflicting To Peaceable Minds. Tranquility Is The Old Man's Milk.

We Have No Paupers ... The Great Mass Of Our [united States] Population Is Of Laborers; Our Rich, Who Can Live Without Labor, Either Manual Or Professional, Being Few, And Of Moderate Wealth. Most Of The Laboring Class Possess Property, Cultivate Their Own Lands, Have Families, And From The Demand For Their Labor Are Enabled To Exact From The Rich And The Competent Such Prices As Enable Them To Be Fed Abundantly, Clothed Above Mere Decency, To Labor Moderately And Raise Their Families. ... Can Any Condition Of Society Be More Desirable Than This?

It Is In Our Lives And Not Our Words That Our Religion Must Be Read.

If We Could Believe That Jesus...countenanced The Follies, Falsehoods And Charlatanisms Which His Biographers Father On Him, ...the Conclusion Would Be Irresistible...that He Was An Imposter.

The Constitutional Freedom Of Religion Is The Most Inalienable And Sacred Of All Human Rights

All The World Would Be Christian If They Were Taught The Pure Gospel Of Christ!.

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.

When Virtue Is Banished, Ambition Invades The Minds Of Those Who Are Disposed To Receive It, And Avarice Possesses The Whole Community. The Objects Of Their Desires Are Changed; What They Were Fond Of Before Has Become Indifferent; They Were Free While Under The Restraint Of Laws, But They Would Fain Now Be Free To Act Against Law.

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.

Difference Of Opinion Leads To Inquiry, And Inquiry To The Truth.

Those Who Would Trade Safety For Freedom Deserve Neither.

The Happiness Of The Domestic Fireside Is The First Boon Of Heaven; And It Is Well It Is So, Since It Is That Which Is The Lot Of The Mass Of Mankind.

I Think We Have More Machinery Of Government Than Is Necessary, Too Many Parasites Living On The Labor Of The Industrious.

Good Wine Is A Necessity Of Life For Me.

Compulsion In Religion Is Distinguished Peculiarly From Compulsion In Every Other Thing. ...i Cannot Be Saved By A Worship I Disbelieve And Abhor.

Our Minds Were Circumscribed Within Narrow Limits By An Habitual Belief That It Was Our Duty To Be Subordinate To The Mother Country.

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.

The Dominion Which The Banking Institutions Have Obtained Over The Minds Of Our Citizens...must Be Broken, Or It Will Break Us.

The Study Of The Law Is Useful In A Variety Of Points Of View. It Qualifies A Man To Be Useful To Himself, To His Neighbors, & To The Public.

The Legitimate Powers Of Government Extend To Such Acts Only As Are Injurious To Others.

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

I Can Never Fear That Things Will Go Far Wrong Where Common Sense Has Fair Play.

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

The Last Hope Of Human Liberty In This World Rests On Us. We Ought, For So Dear A Stake, To Sacrifice Every Attachment & Every Enmity.

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

Pursuit Of Happiness

Were I To Commence My Administration Again, The First Question I Would Ask Respecting A Candidate Would Be, Does He Use Ardent Spirits?

The Mobs Of Great Cities Add Just So Much To The Support Of Pure Government As Sores Do To The Strength Of The Human Body.

Sometimes It Is Said That Man Cannot Be Trusted With The Government Of Himself. Can He, Then Be Trusted With The Government Of Others? Or Have We Found Angels In The Form Of Kings To Govern Him? Let History Answer This Question.

The Office Of Reformer Of The Superstitions Of A Nation Is Ever Dangerous.

One Of My Favorite Ideas Is, Never To Keep An Unnecessary Soldier.

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

All, Too, Will Bear In Mind This Sacred Principle, That Though The Will Of The Majority Is In All Cases To Prevail, That Will To Be Rightful Must Be Reasonable; That The Minority Possess Their Equal Rights, Which Equal Law Must Protect, And To Violate Would Be Oppression.

We Never Repent Of Having Eaten Too Little.

... 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.

The Principle Of The Constitution Is That Of A Separation Of Legislative, Executive And Judiciary Functions, Except In Cases Specified. If This Principle Be Not Expressed In Direct Terms, It Is Clearly The Spirit Of The Constitution, And It Ought To Be So Commented And Acted On By Every Friend Of Free Government.

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

An Association Of Men Who Will Not Quarrel With One Another Is A Thing Which Has Never Yet Existed, From The Greatest Confederacy Of Nations Down To A Town Meeting Or A Vestry.

The Sickly, Weakly, Timid Man Fears The People, And Is A Tory By Nature. The Healthy, Strong And Bold Cherishes Them, And Is Formed A Whig By Nature.

Instead Of An Aristocracy Of Wealth, Of More Harm And Danger Than Benefit To Society, To Make An Opening For The Aristocracy Of Virtue And Talent, Which Nature Has Wisely Provided For The Direction Of The Interests Of Society And Scattered With Equal Hand Through All Its Conditions, Was Deemed Essential To A Well-ordered Republic.

Difference Of Opinion Is Helpful In Religion.

What A Stupendous, What An Incomprehensible Machine Is Man! Who Can Endure Toil, Famine, Stripes, Imprisonment & Death Itself In Vindication Of His Own Liberty, And The Next Moment ... Inflict On His Fellow Men A Bondage, One Hour Of Which Is Fraught With More Misery Than Ages Of That Which He Rose In Rebellion To Oppose.

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.

The Protection Of Our Citizens, The Spirit And Honor Of Our Country, Require That Force Should Be Interposed To A Certain Degree.

My Heart Trembles When I Reflect That God Is Just

When You Are Doubting Whether A Thing Is Worth The Trouble Of Going To See, Recollect That You Will Never Again Be So Near It. You May Repent Not Having Seen It, But You Can Never Repent Having Seen It.

Bigotry Is The Disease Of Ignorance, Of Morbid Minds; Enthusiasm Of The Free And Buoyant. Education And Free Discussion Are The Antidotes Of Both.

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

Separation Of Church And State

The True Foundation Of Republican Government Is The Equal Right Of Every Citizen In His Person And Property And In Their Management.

I Do Not Take A Single Newspaper, Nor Read One A Month, And I Feel Myself Infinitely The Happier For It.

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 Nations. Let The General Government Be Reduced To Foreign Concerns Only.

A Nation, As A Society, Forms A Moral Person, And Every Member Of It Is Personally Responsible For His Society.

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

In A World Which Furnishes So Many Employments Which Are Useful, And So Many Which Are Amusing, It Is Our Own Fault If We Ever Know What Ennui [boredom] Is, Or If We Are Ever Driven To The Miserable Resource Of Gaming, Which Corrupts Our Dispositions, And Teaches Us A Habit Of Hostility Against All Mankind.

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.

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.

I Think Myself That We Have More Machinery Of Government Than Is Necessary, Too Many Parasites Living On The Labor Of The Industrious. Government Big Enough To Supply Everything You Need Is Big Enough To Take Everything You Have ... The Course Of History Shows That As A Government Grows, Liberty Decreases. The Two Enemies Of The People Are Criminals And Government, So Let Us Tie The Second Down With The Chains Of The Constitution So The Second Will Not Become The Legalized Version Of The First.

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.

We Will Be Soldiers, So Our Sons May Be Farmers, So Their Sons May Be Artists

The Eyes Of Our Citizens Are Not Sufficiently Open To The True Cause Of Our Distress. They Ascribe Them To Everything But Their True Cause, The Banking System

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.

The Only True Corrective Of Constitutional Abuses Is Education.

He Wove Those Three Threads Into A Talk Ranging From Annually Spending A Week At Halloween As A Child Collecting Candy To Giving Candy To Hundreds Of Children At Halloween As An Adult; From Childhood Assistance He Received From Adults, Particularly After His Parents Divorced, To Saying I Challenge You To Be A Caring Adult In Someone's Life ... Great Times Call Forth Great Leaders.

He Who Made Us Would Have Been A Pitiful Bungler, If He Had Made The Rules Of Our Moral Conduct A Matter Of Science. For One Man Of Science, There Are Thousands Who Are Not. What Would Have Become Of Them? Man Was Destined For Society. His Morality, Therefore, Was To Be Formed To This Object. He Was Endowed With A Sense Of Right And Wrong, Merely Relative To This.

Trending Author

Robert Smithson

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Category