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The Monopoly Of A Single Bank Is Certainly An Evil. The Multiplication Of Them Was Intended To Cure It; But It Multiplied An Influence Of The Same Character With The First, And Completed The Supplanting The Precious Metals By A Paper Circulation. Between Such Parties The Less We Meddle The Better.

-Thomas Jefferson

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The Monopoly Of A

Thomas Jefferson

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The Monopoly Of A Single Bank Is Certainly An Evil. The Multiplication Of Them Was Intended To Cure It; But It Multiplied An Influence Of The Same Character With The First, And Completed The Supplanting The Precious Metals By A Paper Circulation. Between Such Parties The Less We Meddle The Better.

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

The Only True Corrective Of Constitutional Abuses Is Education.

Laws Abridging The Natural Right Of The Citizen Should Be Restrained By Rigorous Constructions Within Their Narrowest Limits.

No Knowledge Can Be More Satisfactory To A Man Than That Of His Own Frame, Its Parts, Their Functions And Actions.

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

Don't Spend Your Money Till You Have It.

Success In Life

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.

Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom.

... 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.

He Has Waged Cruel War Against Human Nature Itself, Violating It’s Most Sacred Rights Of Life & Liberty In The Persons Of A Distant People Who Never Offended Him, Captivating & Carrying Them Into Slavery In Another Hemisphere, Or To Incur Miserable Death In Their Transportation Thither. This Piratical Warfare, The Opprobrium Of Infidel Powers, Is The Warfare Of The Christian King Of Great Britain. Determined To Keep Open A Market Where Men Should Be Bought & Sold, He Has Prostituted His Negative For Suppressing Every Legislative Attempt To Prohibit Or To Restrain This Execrable Commerce...

My Passion Strengthens Daily To Quit Political Turmoil, And Retire Into The Bosom Of My Family, The Only Scene Of Sincere And Purehappiness.

Still Less, Let It Be Proposed That Our Properties Within Our Own Territories Shall Be Taxed Or Regulated By Any Power On Earth But Our Own. The God Who Gave Us Life Gave Us Liberty At The Same Time: The Hand Of Force May Destroy, But Cannot Disjoin Them.

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

There Is Preparing, I Hope, Under The Auspices Of Heaven, A Way For A Total Emancipation.

The Tax Which Will Be Paid For The Purpose Of Education Is Not More Than The Thousandth Part Of What Will Be Paid To Kings, Priests And Nobles Who Will Rise Up Among Us If We Leave The People In Ignorance

I Find That He Is Happiest Of Whom The World Says Least, Good Or Bad.

Bad Relationship

Those Are Governed Best Who Are Governed Least.

Do Not Be Too Severe Upon The Errors Of The People, But Reclaim Them By Enlightening Them.

Some Other Natural Rights... [have] Not Yet Entered Into Any Declaration Of Rights.

Action Will Delineate And Define You.

Knowing Who You Are

Inspirational Team

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

Without Health There Is No Happiness. An Attention To Health, Then, Should Take The Place Of Every Other Object.

I Think With The Romans, That The General Of Today Should Be A Soldier Tomorrow If Necessary.

I Leave To Others The Sublime Delights Of Riding In The Storm, Better Pleased With Sound Sleep & A Warmer Berth Below It Encircled, With The Society Of Neighbors, Friends & Fellow Laborers Of The Earth Rather Than With Spies & Sycophants ... I Have No Ambition To Govern Men. It Is A Painful And Thankless Office.

It Is A Melancholy Truth, That A Suppression Of The Press Could Not More Completely Deprive The Nation Of Its Benefits Than Is Done By Its Abandoned Prostitution To Falsehood.

The Equal Rights Of Man And The Happiness Of Every Individual Are Now Acknowledged To Be The Only Legitimate Objects Of Government.

Is It Less Dishonest To Do What Is Wrong Because It Is Not Expressly Prohibited By Written Law? Let Us Hope Our Moral Principles Are Not Yet In That Stage Of Degeneracy.

A Wise And Frugal Government, Which Shall Restrain Men From Injuring One Another, Which Shall Leave Them Otherwise Free To Regulate Their Own Pursuits Of Industry And Improvement, And Shall Not Take From The Mouth Of Labor The Bread It Has Earned. This Is The Sum Of Good Government, And This Is Necessary To Close The Circle Of Our Felicities.

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

To Take A Single Step Beyond The Text Would Be To Take Possession Of A Boundless Field Of Power.

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.

Every Honest Man Will Suppose Honest Acts To Flow From Honest Principles, And The Rogues May Rail Without Intermission.

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

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.

Truth Is The Proper And Sufficient Antagonist To Error, And Has Nothing To Fear From The Conflict, Unless, By Human Interposition, Disarmed Of Her Natural Weapons, Free Argument And Debate; Errors Ceasing To Be Dangerous When It Is Permitted Freely To Contradict Them.

Light And Liberty Go Together.

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.

A Rising Nation, Spread Over A Wide And Fruitful Land, Traversing All The Seas With The Rich Production Of Their Industry.

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.

I Candidly Confess That I Have Ever Looked On Cuba As The Most Interesting Addition Which Could Ever Be Made To Our System Of States. The Control Which, With Florida, This Island Would Give Us Over The Gulf Of Mexico, And The Countries And Isthmus Bordering On It, As Well As All Those Whose Waters Flow Into It, Would Fill Up The Measure Of Our Political Well-being.

Man Once Surrendering His Reason, Has No Remaining Guard Against Absurdities The Most Monstrous, And Like A Ship Without Rudder, Is The Sport Of Every Wind. With Such Persons, Gullibility, Which They Call Faith, Takes The Helm From The Hand Of Reason, And The Mind Becomes A Wreck.

Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People. Enable Them To See That It Is Their Interest To Preserve Peace And Order, And They Will Preserve Them.

To The Corruptions Of Christianity I Am Indeed Opposed; But Not To The Genuine Precepts Of Jesus Himself.

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.

By Making This Wine Known To The Public, I Have Rendered My Country As Great A Service As If I Had Enabled It To Pay Back The National Debt.

With Those Who Wish To Think Amiss Of Me, I Have Learnt To Be Perfectly Indifferent: But Where I Know A Mind To Be Ingenuous, Andto Need Only Truth To Set It To Rights, I Cannot Be As Passive.

We Are Overdone With Banking Institutions, Which Have Banished The Precious Metals, And Substituted A More Fluctuating And Unsafe Medium... These Have Withdrawn Capital From Useful Improvements And Employments To Nourish Idleness... These Are Evils More Easily To Be Deplored Than Remedied.

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.

If There Is One Principle More Deeply Rooted In The Mind Of Every American, It Is That We Should Have Nothing To Do With Conquest.

It Should Be Our Endeavor To Cultivate The Peace And Friendship Of Every Nation . . . . Our Interest Will Be To Throw Open The Doors Of Commerce, And To Knock Off All Its Shackles, Giving Perfect Freedom To All Persons For The Vent To Whatever They May Choose To Bring Into Our Ports, And Asking The Same In Theirs.

I Suppose, Indeed, That In Public Life, A Man Whose Political Principles Have Any Decided Character And Who Has Energy Enough To Give Them Effect Must Always Expect To Encounter Political Hostility From Those Of Adverse Principles.

Our Rulers Can Have Authority Over Such Natural Rights Only As We Have Submitted To Them.

That Paper Money Has Some Advantages Is Admitted. But That Its Abuses Also Are Inevitable And, By Breaking Up The Measure Of Value, Makes A Lottery Of All Private Property, Cannot Be Denied.

If Our Country, When Pressed With Wrongs At The Point Of The Bayonet, Had Been Governed By Its Heads Instead Of Its Hearts, Where Should We Have Been Now? Hanging On A Gallows As High As Haman's.

What Country Before Ever Existed A Century And A Half Without A Rebellion? And What Country Can Preserve Its Liberties If Their Rulers Are Not Warned From Time To Time That Their People Preserve The Spirit Of Resistance? Let Them Take Arms. The Remedy Is To Set Them Right As To Facts, Pardon And Pacify Them. What Signify A Few Lives Lost In A Century Or Two? The Tree Of Liberty Must Be Refreshed From Time To Time With The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants. It Is Its Natural Manure.

I Should . . . Prefer Swallowing One Incomprehensibility Rather Than Two. It Requires One Effort Only To Admit The Single Incomprehensibility Of Matter Endowed With Thought, And Two To Believe, First That Of An Existence Called Spirit, Of Which We Have Neither Evidence Nor Idea, And Then Secondly How That Spirit, Which Has Neither Extension Nor Solidity, Can Put Material Organs Into Motion.

Your Own Reason Is The Only Oracle Given You By Heaven, And You Are Answerable For, Not The Rightness, But The Uprightness Of The Decision

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

If The Measures Which Have Been Pursued Are Approved By The Majority, It Is The Duty Of The Minority To Acquiesce And Conform.

Man [is] A Rational Animal, Endowed By Nature With Rights And With An Innate Sense Of Justice.

The God Who Gave Us Life Gave Us Liberty. Can The Liberties Of A Nation Be Secure When We Have Removed A Conviction That These Liberties Are The Gift Of God?

I Have Recently Been Examining All The Known Superstitions Of The World And Do Not Find In Our Particular Superstition [christianity] One Redeeming Feature.

We Shall All Consider Ourselves Unauthorized To Saddle Posterity With Our Debts, And Morally Bound To Pay Them Ourselves; And Consequently Within What May Be Deemed The Period Of A Generation, Or The Life Of The Majority.

And Even Should The Cloud Of Barbarism And Despotism Again Obscure The Science And Libraries Of Europe, This Country Remains To Preserve And Restore Light And Liberty To Them.

I Have Lived Temperately, Eating Little Animal Food, And That Not As An Aliment, So Much As A Condiment For The Vegetables, Which Constitute My Principal Diet.

Vegetarian Diet

If A Nation Expects To Be Ignorant And Free, In A State Of Civilization, It Expects What Never Was And Never Will Be.

The Ordinary Affairs Of A Nation Offer Little Difficulty To A Person Of Any Experience.

Resort Is Had To Ridicule Only When Reason Is Against Us.

Bind Them Down By The Chains Of The Constitution Where They Can Do No Mischief.

No Government Should Be Without Critics. If Its Intentions Are Good Then It Has Nothing To Fear From Criticism.

Whenever You Are To Do A Thing, Though It Can Never Be Known But To Yourself, Ask Yourself How You Would Act Were All The World Looking At You, And Act Accordingly.

If There Is A Gratification Which I Envy Any People In This World It Is To Your Country [italy] Its Music. This Is The Favorite Passion Of My Soul, And Fortune Has Cast My Lot In A Country Where It Is In A State Of Deplorable Barbarism.

The Legitimate Powers Of Government Extend To Such Acts Only As Are Injurious To Others. But It Does Me No Injury For My Neighbor To Say There Are Twenty Gods, Or No God. It Neither Picks My Pocket Nor Breaks My Leg.

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.

When I Hear Another Express An Opinion Which Is Not Mine, I Say To Myself, He Has A Right To His Opinion, As I To Mine. Why Should I Question It? His Error Does Me No Injury, And Shall I Become A Don Quixote, To Bring All Men By Force Of Argument To One Opinion? ...be A Listener Only, Keep Within Yourself, And Endeavor To Establish With Yourself The Habit Of Silence, Especially In Politics.

People Generally Have More Feeling For Canals And Roads Than Education. However, I Hope We Can Advance Them With Equal Pace.

Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing.

Natural Rights [are] The Objects For The Protection Of Which Society Is Formed And Municipal Laws Established.

It Does Me No Injury For My Neighbor To Say There Are Twenty Gods Or No God.

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.

Certain Teachings In The Bible Are As Diamonds In A Dung-heap.

If I Had To Choose Between Government And A Free Press, I Would Choose A Free Press.

A First Attempt To Recover The Right Of Self Government May Fail, So May A Second, A Third, Etc. But As A Younger And More Instructed Race Comes On, The Sentiment Becomes More And More Intuitive, And A Fourth, A Fifth, Or Some Subsequent One Of The Ever Renewed Attempts Will Ultimately Succeed... To Attain All This, However, Rivers Of Blood Must Yet Flow, And Years Of Desolation Pass Over; Yet The Object Is Worth Rivers Of Blood And Years Of Desolation. For What Inheritance So Valuable Can Man Leave To His Posterity?

This Interesting Subject, Which, If The Condition Of Man Is To Be Progressively Ameliorated, As We Fondly Hope And Believe, Is To Be The Chief Instrument In Effecting It.

If I Could Not Go To Heaven With But A Party, I Would Not Go There At All. Therefore, I Am Not Of The Party Of Federalists. But I Am Much Further From That Of The Anti-federalists.

I Shall Need, Too, The Favor Of That Being In Whose Hands We Are, Who Led Our Fathers, As Israel Of Old, From Their Native Land And Planted Them In A Country Flowing With All The Necessaries Of Comforts Of Life.

Every Generation Needs A New Revolution.

Famous Inspirational

The Same Prudence Which In Private Life Would Forbid Our Paying Our Own Money For Unexplained Projects, Forbids It In The Dispensation Of The Public Moneys.

The Excellence Of Every Government Is Its Adaptation To The State Of Those To Be Governed By It.

The Most Valuable Of All Talents Is That Of Never Using Two Words When One Will Do.

There Is Not A Sprig Of Grass That Shoots Uninteresting To Me.

No Other Depositories Of Power [but The People Themselves] Have Ever Yet Been Found, Which Did Not End In Converting To Their Own Profit The Earnings Of Those Committed To Their Charge.

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.

He Who Knows Best Knows How Little He Knows.

...the Science Of Calculation Also Is Indispensable As Far As The Extraction Of The Square And Cube Roots: Algebra As Far As The Quadratic Equation And The Use Of Logarithms Are Often Of Value In Ordinary Cases: But All Beyond These Is But A Luxury; A Delicious Luxury Indeed; But Not Be In Indulged In By One Who Is To Have A Profession To Follow For His Subsistence.

Laws ... Proportionate And Mild Should Never Be Dispensed With. Let Mercy Be The Character Of The Law-giver, But Let The Judge Be A Mere Machine.

Truth Will Do Well Enough If Left To Shift For Herself.

I Was Bold In The Pursuit Of Knowledge, Never Fearing To Follow Truth And Reason To Whatever Results They Led, And Bearding Every Authority Which Stood In Their Way.

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.

Free Government Is Founded In Jealousy, And Not In Confidence; It Is Jealousy, And Not Confidence, Which Prescribes Limited Constitutions, To Bind Down Those Whom We Are Obliged To Trust With Power.

Those Who Labor In The Earth Are The Chosen People Of God.

The Dead Should Not Rule The Living

I Have No Ambition To Govern Men; It Is A Painful And Thankless Office.

I See,... And With The Deepest Affliction, The Rapid Strides With Which The Federal Branch Of Our Government Is Advancing Towards The Usurpation Of All The Rights Reserved To The States, And The Consolidation In Itself Of All Powers, Foreign And Domestic; And That, Too, By Constructions Which, If Legitimate, Leave No Limits To Their Power... It Is But Too Evident That The Three Ruling Branches Of [the Federal Government] Are In Combination To Strip Their Colleagues, The State Authorities, Of The Powers Reserved By Them, And To Exercise Themselves All Functions Foreign And Domestic.

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

Rightful Liberty Is Unobstructed Action According To Our Will Within Limits Drawn Around Us By The Equal Rights Of Others. I Do Not Add 'within The Limits Of The Law' Because Law Is Often But The Tyrant's Will, And Always So When It Violates The Rights Of The Individual.

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 Care Of Every Man's Soul Belongs To Himself. But What If He Neglect The Care Of It? Well What If He Neglect The Care Of His Health Or His Estate, Which Would More Nearly Relate To The State. Will The Magistrate Make A Law That He Not Be Poor Or Sick? Laws Provide Against Injury From Others; But Not From Ourselves. God Himself Will Not Save Men Against Their Wills.

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

Second Amendment

In Defense Of Our Persons And Properties Under Actual Violation, We Took Up Arms. When That Violence Shall Be Removed, When Hostilities Shall Cease On The Part Of The Aggressors, Hostilities Shall Cease On Our Part Also.

It Is Comfortable To See The Standard Of Reason At Length Erected, After So Many Ages, During Which The Human Mind Has Been Held In Vassalage By Kings, Priests, And Nobles; And It Is Honorable For Us To Have Produced The First Legislature Who Had The Courage To Declare That The Reason Of Man May Be Trusted With The Formation Of His Own Opinions.

For If One Link In Nature's Chain Might Be Lost, Another Might Be Lost, Until The Whole Of Things Will Vanish By Piecemeal.

We Generally Learn Languages For The Benefit Of Reading The Books Written In Them

I Hope We Shall . . . Crush In [its] Birth The Aristocracy Of Our Monied Corporations.

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

Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People... They Are The Only Sure Reliance For The Preservation Of Our Liberty.

I Sincerely Pray That All The Members Of The Human Family May, In The Time Prescribed By The Father Of Us All, Find Themselves Securely Established In The Enjoyment Of Life, Liberty, And Happiness.

There Is Nothing More Unequal Than The Equal Treatment Of Unequal People.

Equal Treatment

The Last Hope Of Human Liberty In This World Rests On Us.

Reason And Free Inquiry Are The Only Effectual Agents Against Error... They Are The Natural Enemies Of Error, And Of Error Only... If [free Enquiry] Be Restrained Now, The Present Corruptions Will Be Protected, And New Ones Encouraged.

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.

I Am For Relying For Internal Defense On Our Militia Solely Till Actual Invasion, And For Such A Naval Force Only As May Protect Our Coasts And Harbors From Such Depredations As We Have Experienced; And Not For A Standing Army In Time Of Peace Which May Overawe The Public Sentiment; Nor For A Navy Which, By Its Own Expenses And The Eternal Wars In Which It Will Implicate Us, Will Grind Us With Public Burthens And Sink Us Under Them.

I Like To See The People Awake And Alert.

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.

They Are Exactly The Persons Who Are To Succeed To The Government Of Our Country And To Rule Its Future Enmities, Its Friendships And Fortunes.

I Have Been Long Sensible That While I Was Endeavoring To Render Our Country The Greatest Of All Services, That Of Regenerating The Public Education, And Placing Our Rising Generation On The Level Of Our Sister States (which They Have Proudly Held Heretofore), I Was Discharging The Odious Function Of A Physician Pouring Medicine Down The Throat Of A Patient Insensible Of Needing It.

A Well Informed Citizenry Is The Best Defense Against Tyranny.

Courts Love The People Always, As Wolves Do The Sheep.

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 Hope We Shall Crush In Its Birth The Aristocracy Of Our Monied Corporations Which Dare Already To Challenge Our Government To A Trial By Strength, And Bid Defiance To The Laws Of Our Country.

Though You Cannot See, When You Take One Step, What Will Be The Next, Yet Follow Truth, Justice, And Plain Dealing, And Never Fear Their Leading You Out Of [any Difficult Situation] In The Easiest Manner Possible.

Difficult Situations

Experience Has Already Shown That The Impeachment The Constitution Has Provided Is Not Even A Scarecrow.

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.

I Prefer To Be Remembered For What I Have Done For Others, Not What Others Have Done For Me.

No Society Is So Precious As That Of One’s Own Family.

The Constitutions Of Most Of Our States Assert, That All Power Is Inherent In The People; That They May Exercise It By Themselves, In All Cases To Which They Think Themselves Competent, Or They May Act By Representatives, Freely And Equally Chosen; That It Is Their Right And Duty To Be At All Times Armed; That They Are Entitled To Freedom Of Person, Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of Property, And Freedom Of The Press.

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.

Give Up Money, Give Up Fame, Give Up Science, Give The Earth Itself And All It Contains, Rather Than Do An Immoral Act.

We Are The Friends Of Liberty Everywhere, But The Guarrantors Of Only Our Own.

The Ultimate Arbiter Is The People Of The Union.

The Following [addition To The Bill Of Rights] Would Have Pleased Me: The People Shall Not Be Deprived Or Abridged Of Their Right To Speak, To Write, Or Otherwise To Publish Anything But False Facts Affecting Injuriously The Life, Liberty Or Reputation Of Others, Or Affecting The Peace Of The [united States] With Foreign Nations.

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.

My Religious Reading Has Long Been Confined To The Moral Branch Of Religion, Which Is The Same In All Religions; While In That Branch Which Consists Of Dogmas, All Differ[.

I Believe That Banking Institutions Are More Dangerous To Our Liberties Than Standing Armies.

Travelling. ... When Men Of Sober Age Travel, They Gather Knowlege Which They May Apply Usefully For Their Country

The Field Of Knolege Is The Common Property Of All Mankind

The Happiest Moments My Heart Knows Are Those In Which It Is Pouring Forth Its Affections To A Few Esteemed Characters.

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.

This Institution Will Be Based On The Illimitable Freedom Of The Human Mind. For Here We Are Not Afraid To Follow Truth Wherever It May Lead, Not Tolerate Error As Long As Reason Is Left Free To Combat It.

It Is Not By The Consolidation Or Concentration Of Powers But By Their Distribution That Good Government Is Effected.

He Has Erected A Multitude Of New Offices, And Sent Hither Swarms Of Officers To Harass Our People And Eat Out Their Substance.

What Has Been The Effect Of [religious] Coercion? To Make One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites. To Support Roguery And Error All Over The Earth.

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.

Malice Will Always Find Bad Motives For Good Actions. - Shall We Therefore Never Do Good?

The Private Buildings [of Virginia] Are Very Rarely Constructed Of Stone Or Brick; Much The Greatest Proportion Being Of Scantlingand Boards, Plastered With Lime. It Is Impossible To Devise Things More Ugly, Uncomfortable, And Happily More Perishable.

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

By Oft Repeating An Untruth, Men Come To Believe It Themselves.

If The Body Be Feeble, The Mind Will Not Be Strong.

The First Object Of Human Association [is] The Full Improvement Of Their Condition.

With All The Defects In Our Constitution, Whether General Or Particular, The Comparison Of Our Government With Those Of Europe, Is Like A Comparison Of Heaven With Hell. England, Like The Earth, May Be Allowed To Take The Intermediate Station.

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.

Force Cannot Give Right.

If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't More People Happy?

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

All Persons Shall Have Full And Free Liberty Of Religious Opinion; Nor Shall Any Be Compelled To Frequent Or Maintain Any Religious Institution.

The Most Successful War Seldom Pays For Its Losses.

Dependence Begets Subservience And Paves The Way For Tyranny.

The Patriot, Like The Christian, Must Learn To Bear Revilings And Persecutions As A Part Of His Duty; And In Proportion As The Trial Is Severe, Firmness Under It Becomes More Requisite And Praiseworthy. It Requires, Indeed, Self-command. But That Will Be Fortified In Proportion As The Calls For Its Exercise Are Repeated.

An Elective Despotism Was Not The Government We Fought For, But One Which Should Not Only Be Founded On True Free Principles, But In Which The Powers Of Government Should Be So Divided And Balanced Among General Bodies Of Magistracy, As That No One Could Transcend Their Legal Limits Without Being Effectually Checked And Restrained By The Others.

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

For A People Who Are Free, And Who Mean To Remain So, A Well-organized And Armed Militia Is Their Best Security.

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

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.

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.

Here Was Buried Thomas Jefferson, Author Of The Declaration Of American Independence, Of The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom, And Father Of The University Of Virginia.

If We Are Made In Some Degree For Others, Yet In A Greater Are We Made For Ourselves. It Were Contrary To Feeling And Indeed Ridiculous To Suppose That A Man Had Less Rights In Himself Than One Of His Neighbors, Or Indeed All Of Them Put Together. This Would Be Slavery, And Not That Liberty Which The Bill Of Rights Has Made Inviolable, And For The Preservation Of Which Our Government Has Been Charged.

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.

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 Influence Over Government Must Be Shared Among All The People. If Every Individual Which Composes Their Mass Participates Of The Ultimate Authority, The Government Will Be Safe, Because The Corrupting Of The Whole Mass Will Exceed Any Private Resources Of Wealth, And Public Ones Cannot Be Provided But By Levies On The People. In This Case Every Man Would Have To Pay His Own Price.

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."

Turning, Then, From This Loathsome Combination Of Church And State, And Weeping Over The Follies Of Our Fellow Men, Who Yield Themselves The Willing Dupes And Drudges Of These Mountebanks, I Consider Reformation And Redress As Desperate, And Abandon Them To The Quixotism Of More Enthusiastic Minds.

But Friendship Is Precious, Not Only In The Shade, But In The Sunshine Of Life, And Thanks To A Benevolent Arrangement The Greater Part Of Life Is Sunshine.

My Only Fear Is That I May Live Too Long. This Would Be A Subject Of Dread To Me.

The Evils Of War Are Great In Their Endurance, And Have A Long Reckoning For Ages To Come.

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.

God Forbid We Should Ever Be Twenty Years Without Such A Rebellion... We Have Had Thirteen States Independent For Eleven Years. There Has Been One Rebellion. That Comes To One Rebellion In A Century And A Half, For Each State. What Country Before Ever Existed A Century And A Half Without A Rebellion.

Never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You.

The Value Of Science To A Republican People, The Security It Gives To Liberty By Enlightening The Minds Of Its Citizens, The Protection It Affords Against Foreign Power, The Virtue It Inculcates, The Just Emulation Of The Distinction It Confers On Nations Foremost In It; In Short, Its Identification With Power, Morals, Order And Happiness (which Merits To It Premiums Of Encouragement Rather Than Repressive Taxes), Are Considerations [that Should] Always [be] Present And [bear] With Their Just Weight.

We Ought Not To Schismatize On Either Men Or Measures. Principles Alone Can Justify That.

Man Is Not Made For The State But The State For Man And It Derives Its Just Powers Only From The Consent Of The Governed.

If The Wise Be The Happy Man... He Must Be Virtuous Too; For, Without Virtue, Happiness Cannot Be. This Then Is The True Scope Of All Academical Emulation.

When A Uniform Exercise Of Kindness To Prisoners On Our Part Has Been Returned By As Uniform Severity On The Part Of Our Enemies,you Must Excuse Me For Saying It Is High Time, By Other Lessons, To Teach Respect To The Dictates Of Humanity; In Such A Case, Retaliation Becomes An Act Of Benevolence.

In Reviewing The History Of The Times Through Which We Have Passed, No Portion Of It Gives Greater Satisfaction Or Reflection, Than That Which Represents The Efforts Of The Friends Of Religious Freedom And The Success With Which They Are Crowned.

The Truth Is, That The Greatest Enemies To The Doctrines Of Jesus Are Those, Calling Themselves The Expositors Of Them, Who Have Perverted Them For The Structure Of A System Of Fancy Absolutely Incomprehensible, And Without Any Foundation In His Genuine Words.

Ours Are The Only Farmers Who Can Read Homer

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.

It Is Unfortunate That The Efforts Of Mankind To Recover The Freedom Of Which They Have Been So Long Deprived, Will Be Accompanied With Violence, With Errors, And Even With Crimes. But While We Weep Over The Means, We Must Pray For The End.

Always Take Hold Of Things By The Smooth Handle Grateful That They Are Not Worse Rather Than The Rough Handle, Bitter That They Are Not Better.

If The Book Be False In Its Facts, Disprove Them; If False In Its Reasoning, Refute It. But, For God's Sake, Let Us Freely Hear Both Sides, If We Choose.

Political Differences

I Had No Idea, However, That In Pennsylvania, The Cradle Of Toleration And Freedom Of Religion, It [fanaticism] Could Have Arisen To The Height You Describe. This Must Be Owing To The Growth Of Presbyterianism. The Blasphemy Of The Five Points Of Calvin, And The Impossibility Of Defending Them, Render Their Advocates Impatient Of Reasoning, Irritable, And Prone To Denunciation.

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