Background Image
...
We Have The Wolf By The Ears, And We Can Neither Hold Him, Nor Safely Let Him Go. Justice Is In One Scale, And Self-preservation In The Other.
-Thomas Jefferson
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

We Have The Wolf

Thomas Jefferson
...
We Have The Wolf By The Ears, And We Can Neither Hold Him, Nor Safely Let Him Go. Justice Is In One Scale, And Self-preservation In The Other.

Understanding the Quote: "we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold..."

This quote by Thomas Jefferson reflects deeply on the theme of self. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Self, Justice, Ears, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Thomas Jefferson interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is celebrated for insightful thoughts on self and justice. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 14066
Topic
Self
Justice
Ears
More From Thomas Jefferson
It Is Not The Policy Of The Government In America To Give Aid To Works Of Any Kind. They Let Things Take Their Natural Course Without Help Or Impediment, Which Is Generally The Best Policy.
Government
America
Giving
A Nation, As A Society, Forms A Moral Person, And Every Member Of It Is Personally Responsible For His Society.
Integrity
Responsibility
Hypocrisy
We Discover In The Gospels A Groundwork Of Vulgar Ignorance, Of Things Impossible, Of Superstition, Fanaticism And Fabrication .
Religious
Father
Ignorance
The Hocus-pocus Phantasm Of A God, Like Another Cerberus, With One Body And Three Heads, Had Its Birth And Growth In The Blood Of Thousands And Thousands Of Martyrs.
Religious
Faith Religion
Blood
Let Common Sense And Common Honesty Have Fair Play, And They Will Soon Set Things To Rights.
Honesty
Rights
Play
No Society Is So Precious As That Of One’s Own Family.
It Is The Old Practice Of Despots To Use A Part Of The People To Keep The Rest In Order.
Freedom
Order
Practice
On A Hot Day In Virginia, I Know Nothing More Comforting Than A Fine Spiced Pickle, Brought Up Trout-like From The Sparkling Depths Of The Aromatic Jar Below The Stairs Of Aunt Sally's Cellar.
Food
Aunt
Virginia
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.
Art
Health
Men
All Men Are Created Equal And Have The Right To Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.
Pursuit Of Happiness
Men
Liberty
You Know Well That Government Always Kept A Kind Of Standing Army Of Newswriters Who, Without Any Regard To Truth Or To What Should Be Like Truth, Invented And Put Into The Papers Whatever Might Serve The [government] Ministers. This Suffices With The Mass Of The People Who Have No Means Of Distinguishing The False From The True Paragraphs Of A Newspaper.
Mean
Army
Government
Never Use One Word When Two Will Do.
Two
Use
One Word
Money, Not Morality, Constitutes The Principle Of Commercial Nations.
Principles
Morality
Nations
The Greeks By Their Laws, And The Romans By The Spirit Of Their People, Took Care To Put Into The Hands Of Their Rulers No Such Engine Of Oppression As A Standing Army. Their System Was To Make Every Man A Soldier, And Oblige Him To Repair To The Standard Of His Country Whenever That Was Reared. This Made Them Invincible; And The Same Remedy Will Make Us So.
Death
Country
Military
The Happiest Hours Of My Life Have Been Spent In The Flow Of Affection Among Friends.
Flow
Affection
Hours
During The Course Of Administration, And In Order To Disturb It, The Artillery Of The Press Has Been Levelled Against Us, Charged With Whatsoever Its Licentiousness Could Devise Or Dare. These Abuses Of An Institution So Important To Freedom And Science Are Deeply To Be Regretted, Inasmuch As They Tend To Lessen Its Usefulness And To Sap Its Safety.
Order
Safety
Abuse
It Is Incumbent On Every Generation To Pay Its Own Debts As It Goes. A Principle Which If Acted On Would Save One-half The Wars Of The World.
Wisdom
War
Government Debt
The Juries Are Our Judges Of All Fact, And Of Law When They Choose It.
Law
Judging
Judgement
As For What Is Not True, You Will Always Find Abundance In The Newspapers.
Abundance
Newspapers
True You
That This Privilege Of Giving Or Of Withholding Our Monies Is An Important Barrier Against The Undue Exertion Of Prerogative, Which If Left Altogether Without Control May Be Exercised To Our Great Oppression; And All History Shews How Efficacious Is Its Intercession For Redress Of Grievances And Re-establishment Of Rights, And How Improvident Would Be The Surrender Of So Powerful A Mediator
Powerful
Rights
Giving
Only Aim To Do Your Duty, And Mankind Will Give You Credit Where You Fail.
Failure
Government
Giving
Stock Dealers And Banking Companies, By The Aid Of A Paper System, Are Enriching Themselves To The Ruin Of Our Country, And Swaying The Government By Their Possession Of The Printing Presses, Which Their Wealth Commands And By Any Other Means, Not Always Honorable To The Character Of Our Countrymen.
Country
Character
Mean
I Considered 4 Of These Bills [of The Revised Code Of Virginia] As Forming A System By Which Every Fibre Would Be Eradicated Of Antient Or Future Aristocracy; And A Foundation Laid For A Government Truly Republican.
Government
Virginia
Foundation
If We Can But Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labours Of The People, Under The Pretence Of Taking Care Of Them, They Must Become Happy.
Government
America
People
The Man Who Stops Advertising To Save Money Is Like The Man Who Stops The Clock To Save Time.
Men
Advertising
Saving Money
Take Not From The Mouth Of Labor The Bread It Has Earned.
Freedom
Libertarian Party
Democracies Have
Men Possessing Minds Of The First Order And Who Have Had Opportunities Of Being Known And Of Acquiring The General Confidence Do Not Abound In Any Country Beyond The Wants Of The Country.
Country
Men
Opportunity
The Future Inhabitants Of [both] The Atlantic And Mississippi States Will Be Our Sons. We Think We See Their Happiness In Their Union, And We Wish It. Events May Prove Otherwise; And If They See Their Interest In Separating Why Should We Take Sides? God Bless Them Both, And Keep Them In Union If It Be For Their Good, But Separate Them If It Be Better.
Son
Thinking
Wish
To Be Really Useful, We Must Keep Pace With The State Of Society, And Not Dishearten It By Attempts At What Its Population, Means, Or Occupations Will Fail In Attempting.
Mean
Population
Pace
The Evidence Of [the] Natural Right [of Expatriation], Like That Of Our Right To Life, Liberty, The Use Of Our Faculties, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Is Not Left To The Feeble And Sophistical Investigations Of Reason, But Is Impressed On The Sense Of Every Man. We Do Not Claim These Under The Charters Of Kings Or Legislators, But Under The King Of Kings.
Kings
Pursuit Of Happiness
Men
There Are Two Amendments Only Which I Am Anxious For: 1. A Bill Of Rights, Which It Is So Much The Interest Of All To Have That I Conceive It Must Be Yielded...2. The Restoring Of The Principle Of Necessary Rotation, Particularly To The Senate And Presidency, But Most Of All To The Last.
Rights
Two
Principles
I Am An Epicurean. I Consider The Genuine (not The Imputed) Doctrines Of Epicurus As Containing Everything Rational In Moral Philosophy Which Greece And Rome Have Left Us.
Philosophy
Greek
Religion
When The Subject Is Strong, Simplicity Is The Only Way To Treat It.
Strong
Simplicity
Way
It Is Too Late In The Day For Men Of Sincerity To Pretend They Believe In The Platonic Mysticisms That Three Are One, And One Is Three; And Yet That The One Is Not Three, And The Three Are Not One.
Religious
Believe
Men
One Never Really Knows How Much One Has Been Touched By A Place Until One Has Left It.
History
Historical
Humour
Truth Is Great And Will Prevail If Left To Herself.
Truth Is
Church And State
Left
It Would Reduce The Whole Instrument To A Single Phrase, That Of Instituting A Congress With Power To Do Whatever Would Be For The Good Of The United States; And As They Would Be The Sole Judges Of The Good Or Evil, It Would Be Also A Power To Do Whatever Evil They Please . . . . Certainly No Such Universal Power Was Meant To Be Given Them. It [the Constitution] Was Intended To Lace Them Up Straightly Within The Enumerated Powers And Those Without Which, As Means, These Powers Could Not Be Carried Into Effect.
Mean
Evil
Judging
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.
Virginia
Boards
Ugly
Man, Once Surrendering His Reason, Has No Remaining Guard Against Absurdities The Most Monstrous. . . .
Men
Religion
Reason
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.
Government
Order
People
I Do Not Find In Orthodox Christianity One Redeeming Feature.
Atheist
Religion
President
The Division Into Whig And Tory Is Founded In The Nature Of Men; The Weakly And Nerveless, The Rich And The Corrupt, Seeing More Safety And Accessibility In A Strong Executive; The Healthy, Firm, And Virtuous, Feeling Confidence In Their Physical And Moral Resources, And Willing To Part With Only So Much Power As Is Necessary For Their Good Government; And, Therefore, To Retain The Rest In The Hands Of The Many, The Division Will Substantially Be Into Whig And Tory.
Strong
Men
Hands
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.
Government
Liberty
Constitution
I Deplore With You The Putrid State Into Which Our Newspapers Have Passed, And The Malignity, The Vulgarity, And Mendacious Spirit Of Those Who Write For Them. ... This Has In A Great Degree Been Produced By The Violence And Malignity Of Party Spirit.
Party
Writing
Degrees
You Have Heard Of The New Chemical Nomenclature Endeavored To Be Introduced By Lavoisier, Fourcroy, &c. Other Chemists Of This Country, Of Equal Note, Reject It, And Prove In My Opinion That It Is Premature, Insufficient And False. These Latter Are Joined By The British Chemists; And Upon The Whole, I Think The New Nomenclature Will Be Rejected, After Doing More Harm Than Good. There Are Some Good Publications In It, Which Must Be Translated Into The Ordinary Chemical Language Before They Will Be Useful.
Country
Science
Thinking
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.
Book
4th Of July
Men
It Is Surely Time For Men To Think For Themselves, And To Throw Off The Authority Of Names So Artificially Magnified.
Men
Thinking
Names
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. . . .
Teacher
Religious
Men
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.
Christian
Exercise
Self
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.
Jesus
Heart
Simple
The Man Who Loves His Country On Its Own Account, And Not Merely For Its Trappings Of Interest Or Power, Can Never Be Divorced For It, Can Never Refuse To Come Forward When He Finds That She Is Engaged In Dangers Which He Has The Means Of Warding Off.
Country
Mean
Men
The Difficulty Is No Longer To Find Candidates For The Offices, But Offices For The Candidates.
Office
Bureaucracy
Difficulty
Those Are Governed Best Who Are Governed Least.
Government
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.
Abuse
Investing
Paper
It Is Always Better To Have No Ideas Than False Ones; To Believe Nothing, Than To Believe What Is Wrong.
Believe
Ideas
Atheism
Truth Will Do Well Enough If Left To Shift For Herself. She Seldom Has Received Much Aid From The Power Of Great Men To Whom She Is Rarely Known And Seldom Welcome. She Has No Need Of Force To Procure Entrance Into The Minds Of Men.
Men
Mind
Needs
The Multiplication Of Public Offices, Increase Of Expense Beyond Income, Growth And Entailment Of A Public Debt Are Indications Soliciting The Employment Of The Pruning Knife.
Knives
Government Debt
Office
Compulsion In Religion Is Distinguished Peculiarly From Compulsion In Every Other Thing. ...i Cannot Be Saved By A Worship I Disbelieve And Abhor.
Worship
Compulsion
Distinguished
Who Better To So Softly Bind The Wound Of One, Than She Who Has Suffered The Wound Herself.
Wounds
There Is No Act, However Virtuous, For Which Ingenuity May Not Find Some Bad Motive.
President
May
Motive
It Is Rare That The Public Sentiment Decides Immorally Or Unwisely, And The Individual Who Differs From It Ought To Distrust And Examine Well His Own Opinion.
Opinion
Individual
Distrust
The Precepts Of Philosophy And Of The Hebrew Code, Laid Hold Of Actions Only. (jesus) Pushed His Scrutinies Into The Heart Of Man, Erected His Tribunal In The Regions Of His Thoughts, And Purified The Waters At The Fountain Head.
Jesus
Philosophy
Heart
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.
Wisdom
Majority
Generations
The Firmness With Which The (american) People Have Withstood The... Abuses Of The Press, The Discernment They Have Manifested Between Truth And Falsehood, Show That They May Safely Be Trusted To Hear Everything True And False And To Form A Correct Judgment Between Them.
People
Abuse
True And False
The Appointment Of A Woman To Office Is An Innovation For Which The Public Is Not Prepared, Nor I.
Office
Innovation
Prepared
Happiness Is Not Being Pained In Body Or Troubled In Mind.
Happiness
Happy
Pain
Political Interest [can] Never Be Separated In The Long Run From Moral Right.
Running
Character
Long
The Evils Which Of Necessity Encompass The Life Of Man Are Sufficiently Numerous. Why Should We Add To Them By Voluntarily Distressing And Destroying One Another? Peace, Brothers, Is Better Than War. In A Long And Bloody War, We Lose Many Friends, And Gain Nothing. Let Us Then Live In Peace And Friendship Together, Doing To Each Other All The Good We Can.
Peace
Brother
War
France, Freed From That Monster, Bonaparte, Must Again Become The Most Agreeable Country On Earth. It Would Be The Second Choice Of All Whose Ties Of Family And Fortune Give A Preference To Some Other One, And The First Choice Of All Not Under Those Ties.
Country
Ties
Giving
That Ideas Should Freely Spread From One To Another Over The Globe, For The Moral And Mutual Instruction Of Man, And Improvement Of His Condition, Seems To Have Been Peculiarly And Benevolently Designed By Nature, When She Made Them, Like Fire, Expansible Over All Space, Without Lessening Their Density In Any Point, And Like The Air In Which We Breathe, Move, And Have Our Physical Being, Incapable Of Confinement Or Exclusive Appropriation.
Freedom
Moving
Men
I Have Overlived The Generation With Which Mutual Labors & Perils Begat Mutual Confidence And Influence.
Generations
Influence
Peril
Religious Leaders Will Always Avail Themselves Of Public Ignorance For Their Own Purpose.
Religious
Atheist
Ignorance
[t]he Opinion Which Gives To The Judges The Right To Decide What Laws Are Constitutional And What Not, Not Only For Themselves, In Their, Own Sphere Of Action, But For The Legislature And Executive Also In Their Spheres, Would Make The Judiciary A Despotic Branch.
Government
Law
Judging
It Is A [disputed] Question, Whether The Circulation Of Paper, Rather Than Of Specie [gold And Silver Coin], Is A Good Or An Evil I Believe It To Be One Of Those Cases Where Mercantile Clamor Will Bear Down Reason, Until It Is Corrected By Ruin.
Believe
Evil
Gold
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.
Party
Hands
Knowing
Say Nothing Of My Religion. It Is Known To God And Myself Alone.
Religion
Known
We Exist, And Are Quoted, As Standing Proofs That A Government, So Modeled As To Rest Continually On The Will Of The Whole Society, Is A Practicable Government.
Government
Politics
Proof
A Cold-blooded, Calculation, Unprincipled, Usurper, Without A Virtue, No Statesman, Knowing Nothing Of Commerce, Political Economy, Or Civil Government, And Supplying Ignorance By Bold Presumption.
Ignorance
Knowing Nothing
Government
Industry, Commerce And Security Are The Surest Roads To The Happiness And Prosperity Of People.
Happiness
People
Prosperity
Men Of Energy Of Character Must Have Enemies; Because There Are Two Sides To Every Question, And Taking One With Decision, And Acting On It With Effect, Those Who Take The Other Will Of Course Be Hostile In Proportion As They Feel That Effect.
Character
Men
Two Sides
Our Greatest Happiness Does Not Depend On The Condition Of Life In Which Chance Has Placed Us, But Is Always The Result Of A Good Conscience, Good Health, Occupation, And Freedom In All Just Pursuits.
Inspirational
Happiness
Happy
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.
Science
Eggs
Cheese
The Past Stays Put, I Just Keep Moving Farther Away From It.
Moving
Past
Catchy
The Opinions Of Men Are Not The Object Of Civil Government, Nor Under Its Jurisdiction; That To Suffer The Civil Magistrate To Intrude His Powers Into The Field Of Opinion And To Restrain The Profession Or Propagation Of Principles On Supposition Of Their Ill Tendency Is A Dangerous Falacy, Which At Once Destroys All Religious Liberty...
Religious
Men
Suffering
It Is Strangely Absurd To Suppose That A Million Of Human Beings, Collected Together, Are Not Under The Same Moral Laws Which Bind Each Of Them Separately.
Rights
Law
Together
Our Citizens May Be Deceived For Awhile, And Have Been Deceived; But As Long As The Presses Can Be Protected, We May Trust To Them For Light.
Light
Long
Citizens
The Interests Of A Nation, When Well Understood, Will Be Found To Coincide With Their Moral Duties.
Moral
Found
Duty
The Evils Of War Are Great In Their Endurance, And Have A Long Reckoning For Ages To Come.
War
Long
Evil
My Construction Of The Constitution Is Very Different From That You Quote. It Is That Each Department Is Truly Independent Of The Others, And Has An Equal Right To Decide For Itself What Is The Meaning Of The Constitution In The Cases Submitted To Its Action; And Especially, Where It Is To Act Ultimately And Without Appeal.
Independent
Different
Action
A Little Rebellion Now And Then... Is A Medicine Necessary For The Sound Health Of Government.
Wisdom
Government
Medicine
No One Has A Right To Obstruct Another Exercising His Faculties Innocently For The Relief Of Sensibilities Made A Part Of His Nature.
Exercise
Relief
Made
Health Is The Requisite After Morality
Health
Morality
... 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.
Religious
Lying
Father
Those Who Labor In The Earth Are The Chosen People Of God.
Garden
People
Earth
The Failure Of One Thing Is Repaired By The Success Of Another.
Success
One Thing
The Opinions And Beliefs Of Men Follow Involuntarily The Evidence Proposed To Their Minds.
Freedom
Men
Mind
My Reason For Fixing Them In Office For A Term Of Years, Rather Than For Life, Was That They Might Have An Idea That They Were At A Certain Period To Return Into The Mass Of The People And Become The Governed Instead Of The Governors Which Might Still Keep Alive That Regard To The Public Good That Otherwise They Might Perhaps Be Induced By Their Independence To Forget.
Years
Ideas
People
Self-interest, Or Rather Self-love, Or Egoism, Has Been More Plausibly Substituted As The Basis Of Morality.
Self
Morality
Interest
The Mass Of Our Citizens May Be Divided Into Two Classes -- The Laboring And The Learned. The Laboring Will Need The First Grade Of Education To Qualify Them For Their Pursuits And Duties; The Learned Will Need It As A Foundation For Further Acquirements.
Class
Two
Foundation
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.
Knowledge
Eye
Men
What All Agree Upon Is Probably Right; What No Two Agree In Most Probably Is Wrong.
Two
Agree Upon
Positive Atheism
The Habeas Corpus Secures Every Man Here, Alien Or Citizen, Against Everything Which Is Not Law, Whatever Shape It May Assume.
Men
Law
Civil Rights
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.
Exercise
Rights
Government
I Acknowledge That Such A Debt [of Service To My Fellow-citizens] Exists, That A Tour Of Duty In Whatever Line He Can Be Most Useful To His Country, Is Due From Every Individual. It Is Not Easy Perhaps To Say Of What Length Exactly That Tour Should Be, But We May Safely Say Of What Length It Should Not Be. Not Of Our Whole Life, For Instance, For That Would Be To Be Born A Slave-not Even Of A Very Large Portion Of It.
Country
Would Be
Citizens
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.
Government
Europe
Heaven
That Peace, Safety, And Concord May Be The Portion Of Our Native Land, And Be Long Enjoyed By Our Fellow-citizens, Is The Most Ardent Wish Of My Heart, And If I Can Be Instrumental In Procuring Or Preserving Them, I Shall Think I Have Not Lived In Vain.
Peace
Heart
Thinking
Our Public Credit Is Good, But The Abundance Of Paper Has Produced A Spirit Of Gambling In The Funds, Which Has Laid Up Our Ships At The Wharves As Too Slow Instruments Of Profit, And Has Even Disarmed The Hand Of The Tailor Of His Needle And Thimble. They Say The Evil Will Cure Itself. I Wish It May; But I Have Rarely Seen A Gamester Cured, Even By The Disasters Of His Vocation.
Gambling
Hands
Evil
[states And The Federal Government Are] Coordinate Departments Of One Simple And Integral Whole... The One Is The Domestic, The Other The Foreign Branch Of The Same Government.
Simple
Government
Branches
[o]ur Rules Can Have Authority Over Such Natural Rights Only As We Have Submitted To Them. The Rights Of Conscience We Never Submitted, We Could Not Submit. We Are Answerable For Them To Our God.
Rights
Religion
Natural
I Think All The World Would Gain By Setting Commerce At Perfect Liberty.
Thinking
Perfect
Liberty
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.
Country
Love You
Men
The Protection Of Our Citizens, The Spirit And Honor Of Our Country, Require That Force Should Be Interposed To A Certain Degree.
Country
Honor
Degrees
The Hole And The Patch Should Be Commensurate.
Inspirational
Design
Holes
I Love To See Honest And Honorable Men At The Helm, Men Who Will Not Bend Their Politics To Their Purses, Nor Pursue Measures By Which They May Profit, And Then Profit By Their Measures.
Men
Honorable Man
May
We Established However Some, Although Not All Its [self-government] Important Principles . 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, (as In Electing Their Functionaries Executive And Legislative, And Deciding By A Jury Of Themselves, In All Judiciary Cases In Which Any Fact Is Involved,) Or They May Act By Representatives, Freely And Equally Chosen; That It Is Their Right And Duty To Be At All Times Armed.
Exercise
Thinking
Government
I Have Often Thought That If Heaven Had Given Me Choice Of My Position And Calling, It Should Have Been On A Rich Spot Of Earth, Well Watered, And Near A Good Market For The Productions Of The Garden. No Occupation Is So Delightful To Me As The Culture Of The Earth, And No Culture Comparable To That Of The Garden. Such A Variety Of Subjects, Some One Always Coming To Perfection, The Failure Of One Thing Repaired By The Success Of Another, And Instead Of One Harvest A Continued One Through The Year.
Garden
Should Have
Years
Communities Should Be Planned With An Eye To The Effect On The Human Spirit Of Being Continually Surrounded By A Maximum Of Beauty.
Eye
Community
Spirit
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.
Country
Clouds
Light
The God Who Gave Us Life, Gave Us Liberty At The Same Time.
Life
Time
Godly
We See The Wisdom Of Solon's Remark, That No More Good Must Be Attempted Than The Nation Can Bear.
Bears
Remarks
Nations
The Example Of Changing A Constitution By Assembling The Wise Men Of The State, Instead Of Assembling Armies, Will Be Worth As Much To The World As The Former Examples We Had Give Them. The Constitution, Too, Which Was The Result Of Our Deliberation, Is Unquestionably The Wisest Ever Yet Presented To Men.
Wise
Army
Men
I Am Tired Of A Life Of Contention, And Of Being The Personal Object For The Hatred Of Every Man, Who Hates The Present State Of Things.
Hate
Tired
Men
There Is Not A Truth Existing Which I Fear... Or Would Wish Unknown To The Whole World.
Truth
Honesty
Fear
I Hold It Certain That To Open The Doors Of Truth And To Fortify The Habit Of Testing Everything By Reason Are The Most Effectual Manacles We Can Rivet On The Hands Of Our Successors To Prevent Their Manacling The People With Their Own Consent.
Doors
Hands
People
To History Therefore I Must Refer For Answer, In Which It Would Be An Unhappy Passage Indeed, Which Should Shew By What Fatal Indulgence Of Subordinate Views And Passions, A Contest For An Atom Had Defeated Well Founded Prospects Of Giving Liberty To Half The Globe.
Passion
Views
Giving
Idleness Begets Ennui, Ennui The Hypochondriac, And That A Diseased Body. No Laborious Person Was Ever Yet Hysterical.
Body
Hysterical
Ennui
No Society Can Make A Perpetual Constitution... The Earth Belongs Always To The Living Generation.
Animal
Generations
Earth
Congress Errs In Too Much Talking, How Can It Be Otherwise, In A Body To Which The People Send One Hundred And Fifty Lawyers, Whose Trade It Is To Question Everything, Yield Nothing, And Talk By The Hour?
Funny
Yield
Law Students
The Flames Kindled On The Fourth Of July, 1776, Have Spread Over Too Much Of The Globe To Be Extinguished By The Feeble Engines Of Despotism; On The Contrary, They Will Consume These Engines And All Who Work Them.
July
Flames
Too Much
My Principle Is To Do Whatever Is Right, And Leave Consequences To Him Who Has The Disposal Of Them.
Principles
Consequence
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.
Communication
Ocean
Rivers
I Am A Sect By Myself, As Far As I Know.
Knows
Sects
Man Is An Imitative Animal. This Quality Is The Germ Of All Education In Him. From His Cradle To His Grave He Is Learning To Do What He Sees Others Do.
Animal
Men
Quality
The Dead Should Not Rule The Living
Should
I Know Nothing More Important To Inculcate Into The Minds Of Young People Than The Wisdom, The Honor, And The Blessed Comfort Of Living Within Their Income.
Blessed
People
Honor
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.
Change
Errors
Safety
Letters Are Not The First, But The Last Step In The Progression From Barbarism To Civilisation.
Educational
Letters
Lasts
Lake George Is Without Comparison, The Most Beautiful Water I Ever Saw; Formed By A Contour Of Mountains Into A Basin... Finely Interspersed With Islands, Its Water Limpid As Crystal, And The Mountain Sides Covered With Rich Groves... Down To The Water-edge: Here And There Precipices Of Rock To Checker The Scene And Save It From Monotony.
Beautiful
Lakes
Islands
The Greatest Calamity Which Could Befall Us Would Be Submission To A Government Of Unlimited Powers.
Government
Would Be
Submission
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.
Giving
Habit
Neglect
No Occupation Is So Delightful To Me As The Culture Of The Earth, And No Culture Comparable To That Of The Garden.
Garden
Culture
Earth
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.
Life
Ambition
Past
Games Played With The Ball, And Others Of That Nature, Are Too Violent For The Body And Stamp No Character On The Mind.
Character
Gun
Games
But Under The Beaming, Constant And Almost Vertical Sun Of Virginia, Shade Is Our Elysium. In The Absence Of This No Beauty Of The Eye Can Be Enjoyed.
Beauty
Eye
Virginia
Truth Will Do Well Enough If Left To Shift For Herself.
Enough
Wells
Left
We Have No Right To Prejudice Another In His Civil Enjoyments Because He Is Of Another Church.
Church
Prejudice
Religious Freedom
Power Is Not Alluring To Pure Minds.
Life
Powerful
Government
No Person Shall Be Restrained Of His Liberty But By Regular Process From A Court Of Justice, Authorized By A General Law. . . . On Complaint Of An Unlawful Imprisonment To Any Judge Whatsoever, He Shall Have The Prisoner Immediately Brought Before Him And Shall Discharge Him If His Imprisonment Be Unlawful. The Officer In Whose Custody The Prisoner Is Shall Obey The Order Of The Judge, And Both Judge And Officer Shall Be Responsible Civilly And Criminally For A Failure Of Duty Herein.
Law
Order
Justice
Never Yet Could I Find That A Black Had Uttered A Thought Above The Level Of Plain Narration; Never Saw Even An Elemental Trait Of Painting Or Sculpture.
Black
Sculpture
Levels
Now I Will Avow, That I Then Believed And Now Believe That Those General Principles Of Christianity Are As Eternal And Immutable As The Existence And Attributes Of God; And That Those Principles Of Liberty Are As Unalterable As Human Nature And Our Terrestrial, Mundane System.
Believe
Liberty
Principles
Printers Shall Be Liable To Legal Prosecution For Printing And Publishing False Facts Injurious To The Party Prosecuting: But They Shall Be Under No Other Restraint.
Party
Facts
Printing
What Justice Would There Be To Take This Life? Justice, Gentlemen? Why, I Would Just As Soon Put A Hog In The Electric Chair As This.
Justice
Gentleman
Dying
We Are Not To Expect To Be Translated From Despotism To Liberty In A Featherbed.
Encouragement
Difficult And Easy
Political
My Heart Trembles When I Reflect That God Is Just
God
Patriotic
Heart
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.
Ambition
Sleep
Men
Our Part Is To Pursue With Steadiness What Is Right, Turning Neither To Right Nor Left For The Intrigues Or Popular Delusions Of The Day, Assured That The Public Approbation Will In The End Be With Us.
Ends
Intrigue
Delusion
How Soon The Labor Of Men Would Make A Paradise Of The Earth Were It Not For Misgovernment And A Diversion Of His Energies To Selfish Interests.
Selfish
Men
Energy
The Man Who Reads Nothing At All Is Better Educated Than The Man Who Reads Nothing But Newspapers.
Business
Book
Reading
A Man's Moral Sense Must Be Unusually Strong If Slavery Does Not Make Him A Thief.
Strong
Men
Thieves
War...is As Much A Punishment To The Punisher As To The Sufferer.
Peace
War
Punishment
Responsibility Is A Tremendous Engine In A Free Government.
Responsibility
Government
Free Government
Speaking One Day To Monsieur De Buffon, On The Present Ardor Of Chemical Inquiry, He Affected To Consider Chemistry But As Cookery, And To Place The Toils Of The Laboratory On The Footing With Those Of The Kitchen. I Think It, On The Contrary, Among The Most Useful Of Sciences, And Big With Future Discoveries For The Utility And Safety Of The Human Race.
Science
Thinking
Race
A Government Is Republican In Proportion As Every Member Composing It Has His Equal Voice In The Direction Of Its Concerns, Not Indeed In Person, Which Would Be Impracticable Beyond The Limits Of A City Or Small Township, But By Representatives Chosen By Himself And Responsible To Him At Short Periods.
Equality
Cities
Voice
I Pledge Undying Hostility To Any Government Restrictions On The Free Minds Of The People.
Government
People
Mind
No Nation Is Permitted To Live In Ignorance With Impunity
Ignorance
Nigeria Independence
Impunity
This I Hope Will Be The Age Of Experiments In Government, And That Their Basis Will Be Founded In Principles Of Honesty, Not Of Mere Force.
Peace
Honesty
War
The States Should Be Watchful To Note Every Material Usurpation On Their Rights; To Denounce Them As They Occur In The Most Peremptory Terms; To Protest Against Them As Wrongs To Which Our Present Submission Shall Be Considered, Not As Acknowledgments Or Precedents Of Rights, But As A Temporary Yielding To The Lesser Evil, Until Their Accumulation Shall Overweigh That Of Separation.
Rights
Evil
Separation
Our Attachment To No Nation On Earth Should Supplant Our Attachment To Liberty.
Attachment
Liberty
Earth
To Your Request Of My Opinion Of The Manner In Which A Newspaper Should Be Conducted, So As To Be Most Useful, I Should Answer, "by Restraining It To True Facts & Sound Principles Only." Yet I Fear Such A Paper Would Find Few Subscribers. It Is A Melancholy Truth, That A Suppression Of The Press Could Not More Completely Deprive The Nation Of It's Benefits, Than Is Done By It's Abandoned Prostitution To Falsehood.
Media Control
Sound
Principles
Never Buy What You Do Not Want, Because It Is Cheap; It Will Be Dear To You.
Advice
Liberty
Want
I Concur With You Strictly In Your Opinion Of The Comparative Merits Of Atheism And Demonism, And Really See Nothing But The Latter In The Being Worshipped By Many Who Think Themselves Christians.
Christian
Thinking
Religion
The Clergy ... Believe That Any Portion Of Power Confided To Me [as President] Will Be Exerted In Opposition To Their Schemes. And They Believe Rightly: For I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God, Eternal Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man. But This Is All They Have To Fear From Me: And Enough, Too, In Their Opinion.
Religious
Believe
Men
No Nation Was Ever Drunk When Wine Was Cheap.
Wine
Drunk
Politics
History, I Believe, Furnishes No Example Of A Priest-ridden People Maintaining A Free Civil Government. This Marks The Lowest Grade Of Ignorance Of Which Their Civil As Well As Religious Leaders Will Always Avail Themselves For Their Own Purposes.
Religious
Believe
Ignorance
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.
Character
Law
Judging
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.
Judging
House
Independence
Taxes Should Be Continued By Annual Or Biennial Reeactments, Because A Constant Hold, By The Nation, Of The Strings Of The Public Purse Is A Salutary Restraint From Which An Honest Government Ought Not Wish, Nor A Corrupt One To Be Permitted, To Be Free.
Government
Wish
Taxation
I Believe In Good Luck, And The Harder I Work And The More I Believe In Myself, The Luckier I Get.
Believe
Good Luck
Harder
We Must Meet Our Duty And Convince The World That We Are Just Friends And Brave Enemies.
Military
Brave
Just Friends
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.
Government
Cities
Support
I Feel Much Alarmed At The Prospect Of Seeing General Jackson President. He Is The Most Unfit Man I Know For Such A Place.
Men
President
Feels
I Thank Heaven That The 4th. Of July Is Over. It Is Always A Day Of Great Fatigue To Me, And Of Some Embarrassments From Improper Intrusions And Some From Unintended Exclusions.
4th Of July
Heaven
Exclusion
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.
War
Rights
Long
There Is A Natural Aristocracy Among Men. The Grounds Of This Are Virtue And Talents.
Short Life
Men
Hair
The Fumes Of The Most Disordered Imaginations Were Recorded In Their Religious Code, As Special Communications Of The Deity; And As It Could Not But Happen That, In The Course Of Ages, Events Would Now And Then Turn Up To Which Some Of These Vague Rhapsodies Might Be Accommodated By The Aid Of Allegories, Figures, Types, And Other Tricks Upon Words, They Have Not Only Preserved Their Credit With The Jews Of All Subsequent Times, But Are The Foundation Of Much Of The Religions Of Those Who Have Schismatised From Them.
Religious
Communication
Imagination
Speeches That Are Measured By The Hour Will Die With The Hour.
Death
Speech
Hours
One Precedent In Favor Of Power Is Stronger Than A Hundred Against It.
Power
Stronger
Favors
Beer, If Drank With Moderation, Softens The Temper, Cheers The Spirit, And Promotes Health.
Cheer
Drinking
Beer
The Genius Of Architecture Seems To Have Shed Its Maledictions Over This Land.
Land
Genius
Architecture
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.
Names
Wish
Goes On
...let Us Save What Remains; Not By Vaults And Locks Which Fence Them From The Public Eye And Use In Consigning Them To The Waste Of Time, But By Such A Multiplication Of Copies, As Shall Place Them Beyond The Reach Of Accident.
Eye
Locks
Use
When You Abandon Freedom To Achieve Security, You Lose Both And Deserve Neither.
Achieve
Abandon
Security
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.
Army
Practice
Next
This Doctrine ['that The Condition Of Man Cannot Be Ameliorated, That What Has Been Must Ever Be, And That To Secure Ourselves Where We Are We Must Tread With Awful Reverence In The Footsteps Of Our Fathers']is The Genuine Fruit Of The Alliance Between Church And State, The Tenants Of Which Finding Themselves But Too Well In Their Present Condition, Oppose All Advances Which Might Unmask Their Usurpations And Monopolies Of Honors, Wealth And Power, And Fear Every Change As Endangering The Comforts They Now Hold.
Father
Men
Honor
No Government Should Be Without Critics. If Its Intentions Are Good Then It Has Nothing To Fear From Criticism.
Government
Criticism
Intention
I Find Friendship To Be Like Wine, Raw When New, Ripened With Age, The True Old Man's Milk And Restorative Cordial.
Friendship
True Friend
Wine
The Oppressed Should Rebel, And They Will Continue To Rebel And Raise Disturbance Until Their Civil Rights Are Fully Restored To Them And All Partial Distinctions, Exlusions, And Incapacitations Are Removed.
Rights
Adoption
Rebel
The Movements Of Nature Are In A Never Ending Circle. The Animal Species Which Has Once Been Put Into A Train Of Motion, Is Still Probably Moving In That Train. For If One Link In Nature's Chain Might Be Lost, Another And Another Might Be Lost, Till This Whole System Of Things Should Evanish By Piece-meal; A Conclusion Not Warranted By The Local Disappearance Of One Or Two Species Of Animals, And Opposed By The Thousands And Thousands Of Instances Of The Renovating Power Constantly Exercised By Nature For The Reproduction Of All Her Subjects, Animal, Vegetable, And Mineral.
Nature
Moving
Animal
A Properly Functioning Democracy Depends On An Informed Electorate.
Democracy
Electorate
Depends
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.
Wisdom
Evil
Employment
Trending Author
Eddie Redmayne
Chris Kyle
Corin Nemec
Jonathan Ames
Alison Krauss
Rose Kennedy
Category
Information