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

-Thomas Jefferson

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The Olive Tree Is

Thomas Jefferson

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

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If We Suffer Ourselves To Be Frightened From Our Post By Mere Lying, Surely The Enemy Will Use That Weapon; For What One So Cheap To Those Of Whose System Of Politics Morality Makes No Part?

The Fore Horse Of This Frightful Team Is Public Debt. Taxation Follow That, And In Its Turn Wretchedness And Oppression.

By [the] Operations [of Public Improvement] New Channels Of Communication Will Be Opened Between The States; The Lines Of Separation Will Disappear, Their Interests Will Be Identified, And Their Union Cemented By New And Indissoluble Ties.

The Liberty Of The Whole Earth Was Depending On The Issue Of The Contest, And Was Ever Such A Prize Won With So Little Innocent Blood?

Our Ancestors ... Were Laborers, Not Lawyers.

It Is Not Too Soon To Provide By Every Possible Means That As Few As Possible Shall Be Without A Little Portion Of Land. The Small Landholders Are The Most Precious Part Of A State.

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.

I Believe That Banking Institutions Are More Dangerous To Our Liberties Than Standing Armies. Already They Have Raised Up A Moneyed Aristocracy That Has Set The Government At Defiance. The Issuing Power Should Be Taken From The Banks And Restored To The People To Whom It Properly Belongs.

Opinion, And The Just Maintenance Of It, Shall Never Be A Crime In My View.

The Press Is Impotent When It Abandons Itself To Falsehood.

Music...this Is The Favorite Passion Of My Soul.

In Matters Of Religion, I Have Considered That Its Free Exercise Is Placed By The Constitution Independent Of The Powers Of The General Government. I Have Therefore Undertaken On No Occasion To Prescribe The Religious Exercises Suited To It; But Have Left Them As The Constitution Found Them, Under The Direction And Discipline Of State Or Church Authorities Acknowledged By The Several Religious Societies.

The God Who Gave Us Life, Gave Us Liberty At The Same Time.

Every Man Has Two Countries: His Own And France.

Countries Of The World

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.

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.

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.

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.

We Have Counted The Cost Of This Contest, And Find Nothing So Dreadful As Voluntary Slavery.-honor, Justice, And Humanity, Forbid Us Tamely To Surrender That Freedom Which We Received From Our Gallant Ancestors, And Which Our Innocent Posterity Have A Right To Receive From Us. We Cannot Endure The Infamy And Guilt Of Resigning Succeeding Generations To That Wretchedness Which Inevitably Awaits Them, If We Basely Entail Hereditary Bondage Upon Them.

The Reflections That The Boys Of This Age Are To Be The Men Of The Next; That They Should Be Prepared To Receive The Holy Charge Which We Are Cherishing To Deliver Over To Them; That In Establishing An Institution Of Wisdom For Them, We Secure It To All Our Future Generations; That In Fulfilling This Duty, We Bring Home To Our Own Bosoms The Sweet Consolation Of Seeing Our Sons Rising Under A Luminous Tuition, To Destinies Of High Promise; These Are Considerations Which Will Occur To All.

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

Without Society, And A Society To Our Taste, Men Are Never Contented.

Long Accustomed To The Use Of European Manufactures, [the Cherokee Indians] Are As Incapable Of Returning To Their Habits Of Skinsand Furs As We Are, And Find Their Wants The Less Tolerable As They Are Occasioned By A War [the American Revolution] The Event Of Which Is Scarcely Interesting To Them.

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?

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

Every People May Establish What Form Of Government They Please, And Change It As They Please, The Will Of The Nation Being The Only Thing Essential.

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

Rejecting All Organs Of Informationbut My Senses, I Rid Myself Of The Pyrrhonisms With Which An Indulgence In Speculations Hyperphysical And Antiphysical So Uselessly Occupy And Disquiet The Mind.

I Am Not Myself Apt To Be Alarmed At Innovations Recommended By Reason. That Dread Belongs To Those Whose Interests Or Prejudices Shrink From The Advance Of Truth And Science.

Every Christian Sect Gives A Great Handle To Atheism By Their General Dogma That, Without A Revelation, There Would Not Be Sufficient Proof Of The Being Of God.

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

[a] Spirit Of Justice And Friendly Accomodation...is Our Duty And Our Interest To Cultivate With All Nations.

Difficulties Indeed Sometimes Arise; But Common Sense And Honest Intentions Will Generally Steer Through Them.

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.

In America, No Other Distinction Between Man And Man Had Ever Been Known But That Of Persons In Office Exercising Powers By Authority Of The Laws, And Private Individuals. Among These Last, The Poorest Laborer Stood On Equal Ground With The Wealthiest Millionaire, And Generally On A More Favored One Whenever Their Rights Seem To Jar.

It Is Every Americans' Right And Obligation To Read And Interpret The Constitution For Himself.

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

It Has Been Thought That The People Are Not Competent Electors Of Judges Learned In The Law. But I Do Not Know This To Be True, And, If Doubtful, We Should Follow Principle.

Politics Is Such A Torment That I Advise Everyone I Love Not To Mix With It.

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

Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of The Press, Freedom Of Person Under Protection Of Habeas Corpus; And Trial By Juries Impartially Selected, These Principles Form The Bright Constellation Which Has Gone Before Us, And Guided Our Steps Through An Age Of Revolution And Reformation.

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

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.

Wine From Long Habit Has Become An Indispensable For My Health

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.

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

Nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly.

We Are Not Immortal Ourselves, My Friend; How Can We Expect Our Enjoyments To Be So? We Have No Rose Without Its Thorn; No Pleasure Without Alloy. It Is The Law Of Our Existence; And We Must Acquiesce.

I Value Peace, And I Should Unwillingly See Any Event Take Place Which Would Render War A Necessary Resource.

Never Use One Word When Two Will Do.

That Government That Governs Least Governs Best.

Pride Costs Us More Than Hunger, Thirst, And Cold.

Hunger And Thirst

Nothing But A Necessity Invincible By Any Other Means Can Justify ... A Prostitution Of Laws, Which Constitute The Pillars Of Our Whole System Of Jurisprudence.

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

To Seek Out The Best [persons To Serve In The Government] Though The Whole Union, We Must Resort To The Information Which From The Best Of Men, Acting Disinterestedly And With Ther Purest Motives, Is Something Incorrect....no Duty The Executive Had To Perform Was So Trying As To Put The Right Man In The Right Place.

The Legislative Powers Of Government Reach Actions Only And Not Opinions.

Nothing Gives One Person So Much Advantage Over Another As To Remain Always Cool And Unruffled Under All Circumstances.

For The Power Given To Congress By The Constitution Does Not Extend To The Internal Regulation Of The Commerce Of A State (that Is To Say, Of The Commerce Between Citizen And Citizen,) Which Remain Exclusively With Its Own Legislature; But To Its External Commerce Only, That Is To Say, Its Commerce With Another State, Or With Foreign Nations, Or With The Indian Tribes.

I Find That The Harder I Work, The More Luck I Seem To Have.

All Authority Belongs To The People... In Questions Of Power Let No More Be Heard Of Confidence In Man, But Bind Him Down From Mischief With Chains Of The Constitution.

Wisdom I Know Is Social. She Seeks Her Fellows. But Beauty Is Jealous, And Illy Bears The Presence Of A Rival.

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.

The History Of His Present Majesty, Is A History Of Unremitting Injuries And Usurpationsall Of Which Have In Direct Object The Establishment Of An Absolute Tyranny Over These States. To Prove This, Let Facts Be Submitted To A Candid World, For The Truth Of Which We Pledge A Faith Yet Unsullied By Falsehood.

We Are Now Trusting To Those Who Are Against Us In Position And Principle, To Fashion To Their Own Form The Minds And Affections Of Our Youth... This Canker Is Eating On The Vitals Of Our Existence, And If Not Arrested At Once, Will Be Beyond Remedy.

If Your Letters Are As Long As The Bible, They Will Appear Short To Me. Only Let Them Be Brim Full Of Affection.

Travelling Is Good For Your Health And Necessary For Your Amusement.

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.

I Believe In Both A Creative And Personal God, A Divinely Ordered Universe, That Man Has An Innate Moral Sense, And That Jesus Was A Great Moral Teacher, Perhaps The Greatest The World Has Witnessed.

Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse In Any Country. If It Were, The Laws Would Lose Their Effect, Because It Can Always Be Pretended.

You Have Not Been Mistaken In Supposing My Views And Feeling To Be In Favor Of The Abolition Of War. Of My Dispos[i]tion To Maintain Peace Until Its Condition Shall Be Made Less Tolerable Than That Of War Itself, The World Has Had Proofs, And More, Perhaps, Than It Has Approved. I Hope It Is Practicable, By Improving The Mind And Morals Of Society, To Lessen The Dispos[i]tion To War; But Of Its Abolition I Despair.

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.

I Believe In Good Luck, And The Harder I Work And The More I Believe In Myself, The Luckier I Get.

[if] The Nature Of ... Government [were] A Subordination Of The Civil To The Ecclesiastical Power, I [would] Consider It As Desperate For Long Years To Come. Their Steady Habits [will] Exclude The Advances Of Information, And They [will] Seem Exactly Where They [have Always Been]. And There [the] Clergy Will Always Keep Them If They Can. [they] Will Follow The Bark Of Liberty Only By The Help Of A Tow-rope.

I Place Economy Among The First And Most Important Virtues And Public Debt As The Greatest Dangers To Be Feared. To Preserve Our Independence, We Must Not Let Our Rulers Load Us With Perpetual Debt. If We Run Into Such Debts, We Must Be Taxed In Our Meat And Drink, In Our Necessities And In Our Comforts, In Our Labor And In Our Amusements. If We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labor Of The People, Under The Pretense Of Caring For Them, They Will Be Happy.

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

I Have Overlived The Generation With Which Mutual Labors & Perils Begat Mutual Confidence And Influence.

The Time To Guard Against Corruption And Tyranny Is Before They Shall Have Gotten Hold Of Us. It Is Better To Keep The Wolf Out Of The Fold, Than To Trust To Drawing His Teeth And Talons After He Shall Have Entered.

A Government Held Together By The Bands Of Reason Only, Requires Much Compromise Of Opinion.

God Grant That Men Of Principle Shall Be Our Principal Men.

I Think It Is A Great Error To Consider A Heavy Tax On Wines As A Tax On Luxury. On The Contrary, It Is A Tax On The Health Of Our Citizens.

Tranquility Is The Old Man's Milk.

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

The Several States Composing The United States Of America Are Not United On The Principle Of Unlimited Submission To Their General Government

I Am A Sect By Myself, As Far As I Know.

If We Believe That He [jesus Christ]really Countenanced The Follies, The Falsehoods, And The Charlatanisms, Which His Biographers [writers Of The New Testament]father Upon Him, And Admit The Misconstructions, Interpolations, And Theorizations Of The Fathers Of The Early And The Fanatics Of The Latter Ages, The Conclusion Would Be Irresistible By Every Sound Mind That He Was An Impostor.

... The Common Law Existed While The Anglo-saxons Were Yet Pagans, At A Time When They Had Never Yet Heard The Name Of Christ Pronounced Or Knew That Such A Character Existed.

I Do Not Find In Orthodox Christianity One Redeeming Feature.

The Opinions And Beliefs Of Men Follow Involuntarily The Evidence Proposed To Their Minds.

The Greatest Calamity Which Could Befall Us Would Be Submission To A Government Of Unlimited Powers.

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

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

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.

All Men Are Created Equal.

I Have Ever Judged Of The Religion Of Others By Their Lives. For It Is In Our Lives, And Not From Our Works, That Our Religion Must Be Read.

May [our Declaration Of Independence] Be To The World, What I Believe It Will Be (to Some Parts Sooner, To Others Later, But Finally To All), The Signal Of Arousing Men To Burst The Chains Under Which Monkish Ignorance And Superstition Had Persuaded Them To Bind Themselves, And To Assume The Blessings And Security Of Self-government... All Eyes Are Opened, Or Opening, To The Rights Of Man.

To All Of Which Is Added A Selection From The Elementary Schools Of Subjects Of The Most Promising Genius, Whose Parents Are Too Poor To Give Them Further Education, To Be Carried At The Public Expense Through The College And University. The Object Is To Bring Into Action That Mass Of Talents Which Lies Buried In Poverty In Every Country, For Want Of The Means Of Development, And Thus Give Activity To A Mass Of Mind, Which, In Proportion To Our Population, Shall Be Double Or Treble Of What It Is In Most Countries.

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 Juries Are Our Judges Of All Fact, And Of Law When They Choose It.

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.

I Am Satisfied, And Sufficiently Occupied With The Things Which Are, Without Tormenting Or Troubling Myself About Those Which May Indeed Be, But Of Which I Have No Evidence.

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

Unalienable Rights

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 Human Character, We Believe, Requires In General Constant And Immediate Control To Prevent Its Being Biased From Right By The Seductions Of Self-love.

But Though An Old Man, I Am But A Young Gardener.

Peace, Commerce And Honest Friendship With All Nations; Entangling Alliances With None.

The Spirit Of This Country Is Totally Adverse To A Large Military Force.

The Government Created By This Compact Was Not Made The Exclusive Or Final Judge Of The Extent Of The Powers Delegated To Itself; Since That Would Have Made Its Discretion, And Not The Constitution, The Measure Of Its Powers.

Some Men Look At Constitutions With Sanctimonious Reverence, And Deem Them, Like The Ark Of The Covenant, Too Sacred To Be Touched. They Ascribe To The Men Of The Preceding Age A Wisdom More Than Human, And Suppose What They Did To Be Beyond Amendment. I Knew That Age Well; I Belonged To And Labored With It. It Deserved Well Of Its Country. It Was Very Like The Present, But Without The Experience Of The Present; And Forty Years Of Experience In Government Is Worth A Century Of Book-reading; And This They Would Say Themselves, Were They To Rise From The Dead.

Never Fear The Want Of Business. A Man Who Qualifies Himself Well For His Calling, Never Fails Of Employment.

When You Abandon Freedom To Achieve Security, You Lose Both And Deserve Neither.

The Whole Art Of Government Consists In The Art Of Being Honest.

The Basis Of Our Governments Being The Opinion Of The People, The Very First Object Should Be To Keep That Right; And Were It Left To Me To Decide Whether We Should Have A Government Without Newspapers Or Newspapers Without A Government, I Should Not Hesitate A Moment To Prefer The Latter. But I Should Mean That Every Man Should Receive Those Papers And Be Capable Of Reading Them.

We Must Use A Good Deal Of Economy In Our Wood, Never Cutting Down New, Where We Can Make The Old Do.

Lethargy Is The Forerunner Of Death To The Public Liberty.

The Natural Aristocracy I Consider As The Most Precious Gift Of Nature For The Instruction, The Trusts, And Government Of Society. And Indeed It Would Have Been Inconsistent In Creation To Have Formed Man For The Social State, And Not To Have Provided Virtue And Wisdom Enough To Manage The Concerns Of The Society. May We Not Even Say That That Form Of Government Is The Best Which Provides The Most - For A Pure Selection Of These Natural Aristoi Into The Offices Of Government?

But A Short Time Elapsed After The Death Of The Great Reformer Of The Jewish Religion, Before His Principles Were Departed From By Those Who Professed To Be His Special Servants, And Perverted Into An Engine For Enslaving Mankind, And Aggrandizing Their Oppressors In Church And State.

Although Our Prospect Is Peace, Our Policy And Purpose Are To Provide For Defense By All Those Means To Which Our Resources Are Competent.

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.

A System Of General Instruction, Which Shall Reach Every Description Of Our Citizens, From The Richest To The Poorest, As It Was The Earliest, So Will It Be The Latest, Of All The Public Concerns In Which I Shall Permit Myself To Take An Interest.

The People Are Not Always Well-informed, But Is Better That They Have Misconceptions That Make Them Restless Than That They Be Lethargic-for Lethargy In The People Means Death For Republics.

In Matters Of Style, Swim With The Current; In Matters Of Principle, Stand Like A Rock.

Not For Ourselves Alone, But For All Humanity... Let Us Hasten To Find The Path That Leads To Liberty, Safety, And Peace For Everyone.

No Man Will Ever Bring Out Of That Office The Reputation Which Carries Him Into It. The Honeymoon Would Be As Short In That Case As In Any Other, And Its Moments Of Ecstasy Would Be Ransomed By Years Of Torment And Hatred.

Be A Listener Only, Keep Within Yourself, And Endeavor To Establish With Yourself The Habit Of Silence, Especially In Politics.

Botany I Rank With The Most Valuable Sciences.

Truth Can Stand By Itself...if There Be But One Right [religion], And [christianity] That One, We Should Wish To See The Nine Hundred And Ninety-nine Wandering Sects Gathered Into The Fold Of Truth.

When An Instrument Admits Two Constructions, The One Safe, The Other Dangerous, The One Precise, The Other Indefinite, I Prefer That Which Is Safe And Precise.

Never Use Two Words When One Will Do.

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

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

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

The Selfish Spirit Of Commerce, Which Knows No Country, And Feels No Passion Or Principle But That Of Gain.

. . . In The Full Tide Of Successful Experiment.

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

Nothing Can Be Believed But What One Sees, Or Has From An Eye Witness.

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

A Professorship Of Theology Should Have No Place In Our Institution [the University Of Virginia]

Every Man Wishes To Pursue His Occupation And To Enjoy The Fruits Of His Labours And The Produce Of His Property In Peace And Safety, And With The Least Possible Expense. When These Things Are Accomplished, All The Objects For Which Government Ought To Be Established Are Answered.

The Ocean ... Like The Air, Is The Common Birth-right Of Mankind.

His [calvin's] Religion Was Demonism. If Ever Man Worshiped A False God, He Did. The Being Described In His Five Points Is ... A Demon Of Malignant Spirit. It Would Be More Pardonable To Believe In No God At All, Than To Blaspheme Him By The Atrocious Attributes Of Calvin

In Every Country And In Every Age, The Priest Has Been Hostile To Liberty.

The Foundation On Which (our Government Is) Built Is The Natural Equality Of Man, The Denial Of Every Pre-eminence But That Annexed To Legal Office, And Particularly The Denial Of A Pre-eminence By Birth.

Nothing Was Or Is Farther From My Intentions, Than To Enlist Myself As The Champion Of A Fixed Opinion, Where I Have Only Expressed Doubt.

The Whole Body Of The Nation Is The Sovereign Legislative, Judiciary, And Executive Power For Itself. The Inconvenience Of Meeting To Exercise These Powers In Person, And Their Inaptitude To Exercise Them, Induce Them To Appoint Special Organs To Declare Their Legislative Will, To Judge And To Execute It. It Is The Will Of The Nation Which Makes The Law Obligatory.

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.

When Habit Has Strengthened Our Sense Of Duties, They Leave Us No Time For Other Things; But When Young We Neglect Them And This Gives Us Time For Anything.

A Candle Loses Nothing When It Lights Another Candle.

Founding Fathers Democracy

Easter Was When They Nailed Him To The Cross. And He Never Said A Mumbling Word.

Instead Of That Liberty Which Takes Root And Growth In The Progress Of Reason, If Recovered By Mere Force Or Accident, It Becomes With An Unprepared People A Tyranny Still Of The Many, The Few, Or The One.

Chemistry Is Yet, Indeed, A Mere Embryon. Its Principles Are Contested; Experiments Seem Contradictory; Their Subjects Are So Minute As To Escape Our Senses; And Their Result Too Fallacious To Satisfy The Mind. It Is Probably An Age Too Soon To Propose The Establishment Of A System.

When Tempted To Do Any Thing In Secret, Ask Yourself If You Would Do It In Public.

In The Legislature, The House Of Representatives Is Chosen By Less Than Half The People, And Not At All In Proportion To Those Who Do Choose. The Senate Are Still More Disproportionate, And For Long Terms Of Irresponsibility. In The Executive, The Governor Is Entirely Independent Of The Choice Of The People, And Of Their Control; His Council Equally So, And At Best But A Fifth Wheel To A Wagon. In The Judiciary, The Judges Of The Highest Courts Are Dependent On None But Themselves.

‎we Must Make Our Choice Between Economy And Liberty Or Confusion And Servitude...if We Run Into Such Debts, We Must Be Taxed In Our Meat And Drink, In Our Necessities And Comforts, In Our Labor And In Our Amusements...if We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labor Of The People, Under The Pretense Of Caring For Them, They Will Be Happy.

Man Is Fed With Fables Through Life, And Leaves It In The Belief He Knows Something Of What Has Been Passing, When In Truth He Knows Nothing But What Has Passed Under His Own Eyes.

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.

No Government Can Continue Good But Under The Control Of The People; And . . . . Their Minds Are To Be Informed By Education What Is Right And What Wrong; To Be Encouraged In Habits Of Virtue And To Be Deterred From Those Of Vice . . . . These Are The Inculcations Necessary To Render The People A Sure Basis For The Structure And Order Of Government.

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.

He Who Lights His [candle] At Mine Receives Light Without Darkening Me.

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.

I Have Never Conceived That Having Been In Public Life Required Me To Belie My Sentiments, Or To Conceal Them. Opinion And The Just Maintenance Of It Shall Never Be A Crime In My View, Nor Bring Injury On The Individual. I Never Will By Any Word Or Act, Bow To The Shrine Of Intolerance. I Never Had An Opinion In Politics Or Religion Which I Was Afraid To Own; A Reserve On These Subjects Might Have Procured Me More Esteem From Some People, But Less From Myself.

No Man Complains Of His Neighbor For Ill Management Of His Affairs, For An Error In Sowing His Land, Or Marrying His Daughter, For Consuming His Substance In Taverns ... In All These He Has Liberty; But If He Does Not Frequent The Church, Or Then Conform In Ceremonies, There Is An Immediate Uproar.

The Introduction Of So Powerful An Agent As Steam [to A Carriage On Wheels] Will Make A Great Change In The Situation Of Man.

Indeed, We Need Not Look Back Half A Century To Times Which Many Now Living Remember Well, And See The Wonderful Advances In The Sciences And Arts Which Have Been Made Within That Period. Some Of These Have Rendered The Elements Themselves Subservient To The Purposes Of Man, Have Harnessed Them To The Yoke Of His Labors And Effected The Great Blessings Of Moderating His Own, Of Accomplishing What Was Beyond His Feeble Force, And Extending The Comforts Of Life To A Much Enlarged Circle, To Those Who Had Before Known Its Necessaries Only.

Dispositions Of The Mind, Like Limbs Of The Body, Acquire Strength By Exercise.

Difference Of Opinion Is Helpful In Religion.

Never Put Off Your Massage Until Tomorrow If You Can Get It Today.

When Sins Are Dear To Us We Are Too Prone To Slide Into Them Again. The Act Of Repentance Itself Is Often Sweetened With The Thought That It Clears Our Account For A Repetition Of The Same Sin.

On The Subject Of The History Of The American Revolution, You Ask Who Shall Write It? Who Can Write It? And Who Will Ever Be Able To Write It? Nobody, Except Merely Its External Facts... All Its Councils, Designs And Discussions Having Been Conducted By Congress [behind] Closed Doors - And No Members, As Far As I Know, Having Even Made Notes Of Them. These, Which Are The Life And Soul Of History, Must Forever Be Unknown.

Let Those Flatter, Who Fear: It Is Not An American Art. To Give Praise Where It Is Not Due, Might Be Well From The Venal, But Would Ill Beseem Those Who Are Asserting The Rights Of Human Nature.

No Freeman Shall Be Debarred The Use Of Arms.

Second Amendment

Too Old To Plant Trees For My Own Gratification, I Shall Do It For My Posterity.

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.

Do Not Write Me Studied Letters But Ramble As You Please.

Of Publishing A Book On Religion, My Dear Sir, I Never Had An Idea. I Should As Soon Think Of Writing For The Reformation Of Bedlam, As Of The World Of Religious Sects. Of These There Must Be, At Least, Ten Thousand, Every Individual Of Every One Of Which Believes All Wrong But His Own.

We Need A Revolution Every 20 Years Just To Keep Government Honest.

He Who Is Permitted By Law To Have No Property Of His Own, Can With Difficulty Conceive That Property Is Founded In Anything But Force.

And, In General, That Branch Which Is To Act Ultimately And Without Appeal On Any Law Is The Rightful Expositor Of The Validity Of The Law, Uncontrolled By The Opinions Of The Other Coordinate Authorities.

The Doctrines Of Jesus Are Simple And Tend All To The Happiness Of Man, That There Is Only One God And God Is Perfect. That God And Man Are One. That To Love God With All Your Heart, And Your Neighbor As Yourself, Is The Sum Of Religion. These Are The Great Points On Which I Endeavor To Reform And Live My Life.

Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom.

Power Is Not Alluring To Pure Minds.

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.

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

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

The Most Effective Way To Find Ourselves Enslaved Will Not Be Done Openly. If Weakened We Will Sink Gradually. I Ask, Who Are The Militia? They Consist Of The Whole People, .... Except A Few Public Officers.

Commerce With All Nations, Alliance With None, Should Be Our Motto.

Planting Is One Of My Great Amusements, And Even Of Those Things Which Can Only Be For Posterity, For A Septuagenary Has No Right To Count On Any Thing But Annuals.

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!

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.

Would The Honest Patriot, In The Full Tide Of Successful Experiment, Abandon A Government Which Has So Far Kept Us Free And Firm On The Theoretic And Visionary Fear That This Government, The World's Best Hope, May By Possibility Want Energy To Preserve Itself? I Trust Not.

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.

He Who Knows Nothing Is Closer To The Truth Than He Whose Mind Is Filled With Falsehoods And Errors.

Reading, Reflection And Time Have Convinced Me That The Interests Of Society Require The Observation Of Those Moral Precepts Only In Which All Religions Agree.

The Sheep Are Happier Of Themselves, Than Under The Care Of Wolves.

Resisting Tyranny Is Obeying God

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

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.

The Earth Belongs To The Living, Not To The Dead.

In Matters Of Principle, Stand Like A Rock.

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

It Is While We Are Young That The Habit Of Industry Is Formed. If Not Then, It Never Is Afterwards. The Fortune Of Our Lives Therefore Depends On Employing Well The Short Period Of Our Youth.

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