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The Rights [to Religious Freedom] Are Of The Natural Rights Of Mankind, And ... If Any Act Shall Be ... Passed To Repeal [an Act Granting Those Rights] Or To Narrow Its Operation, Such Act Will Be An Infringement Of Natural Right.

-Thomas Jefferson

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The Rights [to Religious

Thomas Jefferson

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The Rights [to Religious Freedom] Are Of The Natural Rights Of Mankind, And ... If Any Act Shall Be ... Passed To Repeal [an Act Granting Those Rights] Or To Narrow Its Operation, Such Act Will Be An Infringement Of Natural Right.

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A Man's Management Of His Own Purse Speaks Volumes About Character

The Only Greater [evil] Than Separation... [is] Living Under A Government Of Discretion.

Peace And Abstinence From European Interferences Are Our Objects, And So Will Continue While The Present Order Of Things In America Remain Uninterrupted.

The Appointment Of A Woman To Office Is An Innovation For Which The Public Is Not Prepared, Nor I.

The Liberty Of Speaking And Writing Guards Our Other Liberties.

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.

No Man Has Greater Confidence Than I Have In The Spirit Of The People, To A Rational Extent. Whatever They Can, They Will.

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.

Take Painsto Write A Neat Round, Plain Hand, And You Will Find It A Great Convenience Through Life To Write A Small And Compact Hand As Well As A Fair And Legible One.

No Provision In Our Constitution Ought To Be Dearer To Man Than That Which Protects The Rights Of Conscience Against The Enterprises Of The Civil Authority.

Public Employment Contributes Neither To Advantage Nor Happiness. It Is But Honorable Exile From One's Family And Affairs.

A Strong Body Makes The Mind Strong.

One Had Rather Have No Opinion Than A False One.

Political Dissension Is Doubtless A Less Evil Than The Lethargy Of Despotism: But Still It Is A Great Evil, And It Would Be As Worthy The Efforts Of The Patriot As Of The Philosopher, To Exclude Its Influence If Possible, From Social Life. The Good Are Rare Enough At Best. There Is No Reason To Subdivide Them By Artificial Lines. But Whether We Shall Ever Be Able So Far To Perfect The Principles Of Society As That Political Opinions Shall, In Its Intercourse, Be As Inoffensive As Those Of Philosophy, Mechanics, Or Any Other, May Well Be Doubted.

Political Opinions

The Earth Is Given As A Common For Men To Labor And Live In.

Almighty God Hath Created The Mind Free. All Attempts To Influence It By Temporal Punishments Or Burthens...are A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion...no Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Religious Worship Or Ministry Or Shall Otherwise Suffer On Account Of His Religious Opinions Or Belief, But All Men Shall Be Free To Profess And By Argument To Maintain, Their Opinions In Matters Of Religion. I Know But One Code Of Morality For Men Whether Acting Singly Or Collectively.

No Body Wishes More Than I Do To See Such Proofs As You Exhibit, That Nature Has Given To Our Black Brethren, Talents Equal To Those Of The Other Colors Of Men, And That The Appearance Of A Want Of Them Is Owing Merely To The Degraded Condition Of Their Existence, Both In Africa & America.

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.

If Ever We Are Constrained To Lift The Hatchet Against Any Tribe, We Will Never Lay It Down Till That Tribe Is Exterminated, Or Driven Beyond The Mississippi... In War, They Will Kill Some Of Us; We Shall Destroy Them All.

American Indian

We Figure Great Careers Aren't Made. They're Experienced.

Religious Institutions That Use Government Power In Support Of Themselves And Force Their Views On Persons Of Other Faiths, Or Of No Faith, Undermine All Our Civil Rights. Moreover, State Support Of An Established Religion Tends To Make The Clergy Unresponsive To Their Own People, And Leads To Corruption Within Religion Itself. Erecting The 'wall Of Separation Between Church And State,' Therefore, Is Absolutely Essential In A Free Society.

I Am Convinced That Those Societies (such As The Native American Peoples) Which Live Without Government Enjoy In Their General Mass An Infinitely Greater Degree Of Happiness Than Those Who Live Under The European Governments. Among The Former, Public Opinion Is In The Place Of Law, & Restrains Morals As Powerfully As Laws Ever Did Anywhere. Among The Latter, Under Pretence Of Governing They Have Divided Their Nations Into Two Classes, Wolves & Sheep. I Do Not Exaggerate.

Native American

Never Spend Your Money Before You Have Earned It.

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

An Industrious Farmer Occupies A More Dignified Place In The Scale Of Beings...than A Lazy Lounger...too Proud To Work, And Drawing Out A Miserable Existence By Eating On That Surplus Of Other Men's Labor.

The Only Security Of All Is In A Free Press.

Freedom Of The Press

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

Laws Are Made For Men Of Ordinary Understanding And Should, Therefore, Be Construed By The Ordinary Rules Of Common Sense. Their Meaning Is Not To Be Sought For In Metaphysical Subtleties Which May Make Anything Mean Everything Or Nothing At Pleasure.

God Has Formed Us Moral Agents... That We May Promote The Happiness Of Those With Whom He Has Placed Us In Society, By Acting Honestly Towards All, Benevolently To Those Who Fall Within Our Way, Respecting Sacredly Their Rights, Bodily And Mental, And Cherishing Especially Their Freedom Of Conscience, As We Value Our Own.

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

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

I Enclose To You A Copy Of The Declaration Of Independence As Agreed To By The House, And Also, As Originally Framed. You Will Judge Whether It Is The Better Or Worse For The Critics.

The Wise Know Too Well Their Weakness To Assume Infallibility; And He Who Knows Most Knows Best How Little He Knows.

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.

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.

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

In A Virtuous Government, And More Especially In Times Like These, Public Offices Are What They Should Be - Burdens To Those Appointed To Them Which It Would Be Wrong To Decline, Though Foreseen To Bring Them Intense Labor And Great Private Loss.

Times Like These

The More A Subject Is Understood, The More Briefly It May Be Explained.

I Prefer Dangerous Freedom Over Peaceful Slavery.

But Every State, Says An Inquisitor, Has Established Some Religion. No Two, Say I, Have Established The Same. Is This A Proof Of The Infallibility Of Establishments?

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

The Man Who Never Looks Into A Newspaper Is Better Informed Than He Who Reads Them, In-as-much As He Who Knows Nothing Is Nearer To The Truth Than He Whose Mind Is Filled With Falsehood And Errors.

We Must Train And Classify The Whole Of Our Male Citizens, And Make Military Instruction A Regular Part Of Collegiate Education.

Taxes Should Be Continued By Annual Or Biennial Reeactments, Because A Constant Hold, By The Nation, Of The Strings Of The Public Purse Is A Salutary Restraint From Which An Honest Government Ought Not Wish, Nor A Corrupt One To Be Permitted, To Be Free.

[t]he True Key For The Construction Of Everything Doubtful In A Law Is The Intention Of The Law-makers. This Is Most Safely Gathered From The Words, But May Be Sought Also In Extraneous Circumstances Provided They Do Not Contradict The Express Words Of The Law.

The Parent Storms, The Child Looks On, Catches The Lineaments Of Wrath, Puts On The Same Airs In The Circle Of Smaller Slaves, Gives A Loose To The Worst Of Passions, And Thus Nursed, Educated And Daily Exercised In Tyranny, Cannot But Be Stamped By It With Odious Peculiarities.

Bigotry Is The Disease Of Ignorance.

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

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.

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

An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens . . . There Has Never Been A Moment Of My Life In Which I Should Have Relinquished For It The Enjoyments Of My Family, My Farm, My Friends And Books.

Difference Of Opinion Is Helpful In Religion.

Erecting The 'wall Of Separation Between Church And State'... Is Absolutely Essential In A Free Society.

Had The Doctrines Of Jesus Been Preached Always As Pure As They Came From His Lips, The Whole Civilized World Would Now Have Been Christians.

Books Constitute Capital. A Library Book Lasts As Long As A House, For Hundreds Of Years. It Is Not, Then, An Article Of Mere Consumption But Fairly Of Capital, And Often In The Case Of Professional Men, Setting Out In Life, It Is Their Only Capital.

The God Who Gave Us Life, Gave Us Liberty At The Same Time; The Hand Of Force May Destroy, But Cannot Disjoin Them. ... Love Your Neighbor As Yourself And Your Country More Than Yourself. ... The Boisterous Sea Of Liberty Is Never Without A Wave. ... I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God, Eternal Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man. ... The Tree Of Liberty Must Be Refreshed From Time To Time With The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants. It Is Its Natural Manure.

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

Second Amendment

Subject Opinion To Coercion: Whom Will You Make Your Inquisitors? Fallible Men; Men Governed By Bad Passions, By Private As Well As Public Reasons. And Why Subject It To Coercion? To Produce Uniformity. But Is Uniformity Of Opinion Desirable? No More Than Of Face And Stature.

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

Ministers Of The Gospel Are Excluded [from Serving As Visitors Of The County Elementary Schools] To Avoid Jealousy From The Other Sects, Were The Public Education Committed To The Ministers Of A Particular One; And With More Reason Than In The Case Of Their Exclusion From The Legislative And Executive Functions.

My Great Wish Is To Go On In A Strict But Silent Performance Of My Duty; To Avoid Attracting Notice, And To Keep My Name Out Of The Newspapers.

The People Of Every Country Are The Only Safe Guardians Of Their Own Rights.

If I Had To Choose Between Government Without Newspapers, And Newspapers Without Government, I Wouldn't Hesitate To Choose The Latter

Money, Not Morality, Constitutes The Principle Of Commercial Nations.

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

The Issuing Power [of Money] Should Be Taken From The Banks And Restored To The People, To Whom It Properly Belongs.

Democracies Have

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

Do Not Bite At The Bait Of Pleasure, Till You Know There Is No Hook Beneath It.

An Enlightened Citizenry Is Indispensable For The Proper Functioning Of A Republic. Self-government Is Not Possible Unless The Citizens Are Educated Sufficiently To Enable Them To Exercise Oversight. It Is Therefore Imperative That The Nation See To It That A Suitable Education Be Provided For All Its Citizens.

An Honest Heart Being The First Blessing, A Knowing Head Is The Second.

No Man Will Ever Carry Out Of The Presidency The Reputation Which Carried Him Into It.

Religions Are All Alike- Founded Upon Fables And Mythologies.

Secular Society

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.

We Are Not To Expect To Be Translated From Despotism To Liberty In A Featherbed.

Difficult And Easy

Experience Having Long Taught Me The Reasonableness Of Mutual Sacrifices Of Opinion Among Those Who Are To Act Together For Any Common Object, And The Expediency Of Doing What Good We Can; When We Cannot Do All We Would Wish.

To Compel A Man To Furnish Contributions Of Money For The Propagation Of Opinions Which He Disbelieves And Abhors, Is Sinful And Tyrannical; . . . Even The Forcing Him To Support This Or That Teacher Of His Own Religious Persuasion, Is Depriving Him Of The Comfortable Liberty Of Giving His Contributions To The Particular Pastor Whose Morals He Would Make His Pattern. . . .

Do You Want To Know Who You Are? Don't Ask. Act! Action Will Delineate And Define You.

No Generation Has A Right To Contract Debts Greater Than Can Be Paid Off During The Course Of Its Own Existence.

I Never Did, Or Countenanced, In Public Life, A Single Act Inconsistent With The Strictest Good Faith; Having Never Believed There Was One Code Of Morality For A Public, And Another For A Private Man.

Aristocrats Fear The People, And Wish To Transfer All Power To The Higher Classes Of Society.

Rogueries, Absurdities And Untruths Were Perpetrated Upon The Teachings Of Jesus By A Large Band Of Dupes And Importers Led By Paul, The First Great Corrupter Of The Teaching Of Jesus.

The Bloom Of Monticello Is Chilled By My Solitude.

I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God Eternal, Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man.

Most Codes Extend Their Definitions Of Treason To Acts Not Really Against One's Country. They Do Not Distinguish Between Acts Against The Government, And Acts Against The Oppressions Of The Government. The Latter Are Virtues, Yet Have Furnished More Victims To The Executioner Than The Former. Real Treasons Are Rare; Oppressions Frequent. The Unsuccessful Strugglers Against Tyranny Have Been The Chief Martyrs Of Treason Laws In All Countries.

We Have Already Given In Example One Effectual Check To The Dog Of War By Transferring The Power Of Letting Him Loose From The Executive To The Legislative Body

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.

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

An Equal Application Of Law To Every Condition Of Man Is Fundamental.

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

Democracies Have

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

I Never Submitted The Whole System Of My Opinions To The Creed Of Any Party Of Men Whatever, In Religion, In Philosophy, In Politics, Or In Anything Else, Where I Was Capable Of Thinking For Myself. Such An Addiction Is The Last Degradation Of A Free And Moral Agent. If I Could Not Go To Heaven But With A Party, I Would Not Go There At All.

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.

I Find The Pain Of A Little Censure, Even When It Is Unfounded, Is More Acute Than The Pleasure Of Much Praise.

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.

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.

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

The Further The Departure From Direct And Constant Control By The Citizens, The Less Has The Government Of The Ingredient Of Republicanism.

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

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.

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

Morals Were Too Essential To The Happiness Of Man, To Be Risked On The Uncertain Combinations Of The Head. Nature Laid Their Foundation, Therefore, In Sentiment, Not In Science.

A Man Has A Right To Use A Saw, An Axe, A Plane, Separately; May He Not Combine Their Uses On The Same Piece Of Wood? He Has A Right To Use His Knife To Cut His Meat, A Fork To Hold It; May A Patentee Take From Him The Right To Combine Their Use On The Same Subject? Such A Law, Instead Of Enlarging Our Conveniences, As Was Intended, Would Most Fearfully Abridge Them, And Crowd Us By Monopolies Out Of The Use Of The Things We Have.

When We Come To The Moral Principles On Which The Government Is To Be Administered, We Come To What Is Proper For All Conditions Of Society. Liberty, Truth, Probity, Honor, Are Declared To Be The Four Cardinal Principles Of Society. I Believe That Morality, Compassion, Generosity, Are Innate Elements Of The Human Constitution; That There Exists A Right Independent Of Force.

What I Value More Than All Things, Good Humor.

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

The Religion Of Jesus Is Founded In The Unity Of God, And This Principle Chiefly Gave It Triumph Over The Rabble Of Heathen Gods Then Acknowledged. Thinking Men Of All Nations Rallied Readily To The Doctrine Of One Only God, And Embraced It With The Pure-morals Which Jesus Inculcated.

I Sincerely Join You In Abjuring All Political Connection With Every Foreign Power; And Tho I Cordially Wish Well To The Progress Of Liberty In All Nations, And Would Forever Give It The Weight Of Our Countenance, Yet They Are Not To Be Touched Without Contamination From Their Other Bad Principles. Commerce With All Nations, Alliance With None, Should Be Our Motto.

I Am Ever Unwilling That [peace] Should Be Disturbed As Long As The Rights And Interests Of The Nations Can Be Preserved. But Whensoever Hostile Aggressions On These Require A Resort To War, We Must Meet Our Duty And Convince The World That We Are Just Friends And Brave Enemies.

The Cost Of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance

The Reason That Christianity Is The Best Friend Of Government Is Because Christianity Is The Only Religion That Changes The Heart.

Our Judges Are As Honest As Other Men And Not More So. They Have, With Others, The Same Passions For Party, For Power, And The Privilege Of Their Corps.

But Every Difference Of Opinion Is Not A Difference Of Principle.

Nothing Betrays Imbecility So Much As The Being Insensible Of It.

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.

With The Same Honest Views, The Most Honest Men Often Form Different Conclusions.

If The Game Runs Sometimes 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.

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.

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.

Nature [has] Implanted In Our Breasts A Love Of Others, A Sense Of Duty To Them, A Moral Instinct, In Short, Which Prompts Us Irresistibly To Feel And To Succor Their Distresses.

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.

It Is Reasonable That Everyone Who Asks Justice Should Do Justice

The Uniform Tenor Of A Man's Life Furnishes Better Evidence Of What He Has Said Or Done On Any Particular Occasion Than The Word Of Any Enemy.

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

The Advocate Of Religious Freedom Is To Expect Neither Peace Nor Forgiveness From [the Clergy].

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

We Might Have Been A Free And Great People Together.

Agreeable Society Is The First Essential In Constituting The Happiness And Of Course The Value Of Our Existence.

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

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

It Is Left... To The Juries, If They Think The Permanent Judges Are Under Any Bias Whatever In Any Cause, To Take On Themselves To Judge The Law As Well As The Fact. They Never Exercise This Power But When They Suspect Partiality In The Judges; And By The Exercise Of This Power They Have Been The Firmest Bulwarks Of English Liberty.

To Me... It Appears That There Have Been Differences Of Opinion And Party Differences, From The First Establishment Of Government To The Present Day, And On The Same Question Which Now Divides Our Own Country; That These Will Continue Through All Future Time; That Every One Takes His Side In Favor Of The Many, Or Of The Few, According To His Constitution, And The Circumstances In Which He Is Placed.

A Room Without Books Is Like A Life Without Meaning.

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.

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

I Am A Christian In The Only Sense In Which He Wished Anyone To Be: Sincerely Attached To His Doctrines In Preference To All Others.

I Have Wished To See Chemistry Applied To Domestic Objects, To Malting, For Instance, Brewing, Making Cider, To Fermentation And Distillation Generally, To The Making Of Bread, Butter, Cheese, Soap, To The Incubation Of Eggs, &c.

We Often Repent Of What We Have Said, But Never, Never, Of That Which We Have Not.

Laws That Forbid The Carrying Of Arms Disarm Only Those Who Are Neither Inclined Nor Determined To Commit Crimes.

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.

Politics, Like Religion, Hold Up The Torches Of Martyrdom To The Reformers Of Error.

How To Check These Unconstitutional Invasions Of Rights By The Federal Judiciary? Not By Impeachment In The First Instance, But By A Strong Protestation Of Both Houses Of Congress That Such And Such Doctrines Advanced By The Supreme Court Are Contrary To The Constitution; And If Afterwards They Relapse Into The Same Heresies, Impeach And Set The Whole Adrift. For What Was The Government Divided Into Three Branches, But That Each Should Watch Over The Others And Oppose Their Usurpations?

The Christian Religion, When Divested Of The Rags In Which They [the Clergy] Have Enveloped It, And Brought To The Original Purity And Simplicity Of It's Benevolent Institutor, Is A Religion Of All Others Most Friendly To Liberty, Science, And The Freest Expansion Of The Human Mind.

It Is An Axiom In My Mind That Our Liberty Can Never Be Safe But In The Hands Of The People Themselves, And That Too Of The People With A Certain Degree Of Instruction. This It Is The Business Of The State To Effect, And On A General Plan.

A Share In The Sovereignty Of The State, Which Is Exercised By The Citizens At Large, In Voting At Elections Is One Of The Most Important Rights Of The Subject, And In A Republic Ought To Stand Foremost In The Estimation Of The Law.

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

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

Bad Relationship

It Has Also Been A Great Solace To Me, To Believe That You Are Engaged In Vindicating To Posterity The Course We Have Pursued For Preserving To Them, In All Their Purity, The Blessings Of Self-government, Which We Had Assisted Too In Acquiring For Them. If Ever The Earth Has Beheld A System Of Administration Conducted With A Single And Steadfast Eye To The General Interest And Happiness Of Those Committed To It, One Which, Protected By Truth, Can Never Know Reproach, It Is That To Which Our Lives Have Been Devoted.

Equal Rights For All, Special Privileges For None

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

Many Of The Opposition [to The New Federal Constitution] Wish To Take From Congress The Power Of Internal Taxation. Calculation Has Convinced Me That This Would Be Very Mischievous.

I Extremely Believe In Luck, And I Discovered More Hard Work, Your Luck As Much

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.

The True Fountains Of Evidence [are] The Head And Heart Of Every Rational And Honest Man. It Is There Nature Has Written Her Moral Laws, And Where Every Man May Read Them For Himself.

He [washington] Has Often Declared To Me That He Considered Our New Constitution As An Experiment On The Practicability Of Republican Government, And With What Dose Of Liberty Man Could Be Trusted For His Own Good; That He Was Determined The Experiment Should Have A Fair Trial, And Would Lose The Last Drop Of His Blood In Support Of It. And These Declarations He Repeated To Me The Oftener And The More Pointedly.

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

You See I Am An Enthusiast On The Subject Of The Arts. But It Is An Enthusiasm Of Which I Am Not Ashamed, As Its Object Is To Improve The Taste Of My Countrymen, To Increase Their Reputation, To Reconcile To Them The Respect Of The World, And Procure Them Its Praise.

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

For An Unarmed Man May Be Attacked With Greater Confidence Than An Armed Man.

The Principles On Which We Engaged, Of Which The Charter Of Our Independence Is The Record, Were Sanctioned By The Laws Of Our Being, And We But Obeyed Them In Pursuing Undeviatingly The Course They Called For. It Issued Finally In That Inestimable State Of Freedom Which Alone Can Ensure To Man The Enjoyment Of His Equal Rights.

To Make Us One Nation As To Foreign Concerns, And Keep Us Distinct In Domestic Ones Gives The Outline Of The Proper Division Of Powers Between The General [national] And Particular [state] Governments.

[all Religious Sects] Dread The Advance Of Science As Witches Do The Approach Of Daylight; And Scowl On The Fatal Harbinger Announcing The Subversion Of The Duperies In Which They Live.

There Is... An Artificial Aristocracy Founded On Wealth And Birth, Without Either Virtue Or Talents... The Artificial Aristocracy Is A Mischievous Ingredient In Government, And Provision Should Be Made To Prevent Its Ascendency.

It Is As Useless To Argue With Those Who Have Renounced The Use Of Reason As To Administer Medication To The Dead.

I View Great Cities As Pestilential To The Morals, The Health And The Liberties Of Man. True, They Nourish Some Of The Elegant Arts; But The Useful Ones Can Thrive Elsewhere; And Less Perfection In The Others, With More Health, Virtue And Freedom, Would Be My Choice.

No Government Can Continue Good, But Under The Control Of The People.

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.

Men Of High Learning And Abilities Are Few In Every Country; And By Taking In Those Who Are Not So, The Able Part Of The Body Have Their Hands Tied By The Unable.

The People Cannot Be All, And Always Well Informed. The Part Which Is Wrong Will Be Discontented In Proportion To The Importance Of The Facts They Misconceive.

When We See Ourselves In A Situation Which Must Be Endured And Gone Through, It Is Best To Make Up Our Minds To It, Meet It With Firmness, And Accommodate Everything To It In The Best Way Practicable. This Lessens The Evil; While Fretting And Fuming Only Serves To Increase Your Own Torments.

Adore God. Reverence And Cherish Your Parents. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, And Your Country More Than Yourself. Be Just. Be True. Murmur Not At The Ways Of Providence. So Shall The Life Into Which You Have Entered Be The Portal To One Of Eternal And Ineffable Bliss.

All Things Here Appear To Me To Trudge On In One And The Same Round: We Rise In The Morning That We May Eat Breakfast, Dinner Andsupper And To Bed Again That We May Get Up The Next Morning And Do The Same: So That You Never Saw Two Peas More Alike Than Our Yesterday And To-day.

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.

The Construction Applied . . . To Those Parts Of The Constitution Of The United States Which Delegate Congress A Power . . . Ought Not To Be Construed As Themselves To Give Unlimited Powers, Nor A Part To Be So Taken As To Destroy The Whole Residue Of That Instrument.

History By Apprising Them [the People] Of The Past Will Enable Them To Judge Of The Future. . . . It Will Qualify Them As Judges Of The Actions And Designs Of Men: It Will Enable Them To Know Ambition Under Every Disguise It May Assume; And Knowing It, To Defeat Its Views.

I Considered The British As Our Natural Enemies, And As The Only Nation On Earth Who Wished Us Ill From The Bottom Of Their Souls. And I Am Satisfied That Were Our Continent To Be Swallowed Up By The Ocean, Great Britain Would Be In A Bonfire From One End To The Other.

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?

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

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

Nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly.

I Have Much Confidence That We Shall Proceed Successfully For Ages To Come. My Hope Of Its Duration Is Built Much On The Enlargement Of The Resources Of Life Going Hand In Hand With The Enlargement Of Territory.

1.never Put Off Till To-morrow What You Can Do To-day. 2.never Trouble Another For What You Can Do Yourself. 3.never Spend Your Money Before You Have It. 4.never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You. 5.pride Costs Us More Than Hunger, Thirst, And Cold. 6.we Never Repent Of Having Eaten Too Little. 7.nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly. 8.how Much Pain Have Cost Us The Evils Which Have Never Happened. 9.take Things Always By Their Smooth Handle. 10.when Angry, Count Ten, Before You Speak; If Very Angry, A Hundred.

I Apprehend... That The Total Abandonment Of The Principle Of Rotation In The Offices Of President And Senator Will End In Abuse.

Where Strictness Of Grammar Does Not Weaken Expression, It Should Be Attended To. . . . But Where, By Small Grammatical Negligences, The Energy Of An Idea Is Condensed, Or A Word Stands For A Sentence, I Hold Grammatical Rigor In Contempt.

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

What Country Can Preserve Its Liberties If Its Rulers Are Not Warned From Time To Time That Their People Preserve The Spirit Of Resistance? Let Them Take Arms.

Though Written Constitutions May Be Violated In Moments Of Passion Or Delusion, Yet They Furnish A Text To Which Those Who Are Watchful May Again Rally And Recall The People; They Fix Too For The People The Principles Of Their Political Creed.

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.

The Persons And Property Of Our Citizens Are Entitled To The Protection Of Our Government In All Places Where They May Lawfully Go.

The General Desire Of Men To Live By Their Heads Rather Than Their Hands, And The Strong Allurements Of Great Cities To Those Who Have Any Turn For Dissipation, Threaten To Make Them Here, As In Europe, The Sinks Of Voluntary Misery.

A Free People [claim] Their Rights As Derived From The Laws Of Nature, And Not As The Gift Of Their Chief Magistrate.

An Elective Despotism Was Not The Government We Fought For.

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

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.

I Will Now Add What I Do Not Like. First, The Omission Of A Bill Of Rights Providing Clearly And Without The Aid Of Sophisms For Freedom Of Religion, Freedom Of The Press, Protection Against Standing Armies, Restriction Against Monopolies, The Eternal And Unremitting Force Of The Habeas Corpus Laws, And Trials By Jury In All Matters Of Fact Triable By The Laws Of The Land And Not By The Law Of Nations.

War Has Been Avoided From A Due Sense Of The Miseries, And The Demoralization It Produces, And Of The Superior Blessings Of A State Of Peace And Friendship With All Mankind.

Letters Are Not The First, But The Last Step In The Progression From Barbarism To Civilisation.

The States Should Be Urged To Concede To The General Government, With A Saving Of Chartered Rights, The Exclusive Power Of Establishing Banks Of Discount For Paper.

Let Us, Then, Fellow Citizens, Unite With One Heart And One Mind. Let Us Restore To Social Intercourse That Harmony And Affection Without Which Liberty And Even Life Itself Are But Dreary Things. And Let Us Reflect That Having Banished From Our Land That Religious Intolerance Under Which Mankind So Long Bled, We Have Yet Gained Little If We Counternance A Political Intolerance As Despotic, As Wicked, And Capable Of A Bitter And Bloody Persecutions.

Yet By Such Worthless Beings Is A Great Nation To Be Governed And Even Made To Deify Their Old King Because He Is Only A Fool And A Maniac, And To Forgive And Forget His Having Lost To Them A Great And Flourishing Empire.

Forgive And Forget

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

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William A. Dembski

Louise Berliawsky Nevelson

Luther Campbell

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