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Well, Page, I Do Wish The Devil Had Old Cooke, For I Am Sure I Never Was So Tired Of An Old Dull Scoundrel In My Life ... But The Old-fellows Say We Must Read To Gain Knowledge; And Gain Knowledge To Make Us Happy And Be Admired. Mere Jargon! Is There Any Such Thing As Happiness In This World? No.

-Thomas Jefferson

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Well, Page, I Do

Thomas Jefferson

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Well, Page, I Do Wish The Devil Had Old Cooke, For I Am Sure I Never Was So Tired Of An Old Dull Scoundrel In My Life ... But The Old-fellows Say We Must Read To Gain Knowledge; And Gain Knowledge To Make Us Happy And Be Admired. Mere Jargon! Is There Any Such Thing As Happiness In This World? No.

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They Are Nations Of Eternal War. All Their Energies Are Expended In The Destruction Of The Labor, Property, And Lives Of Their People.

When The Representative Body Have Lost The Confidence Of Their Constituents, When They Have Notoriously Made Sale Of Their Most Valuable Rights, When They Have Assumed To Themselves Powers Which The People Never Put Into Their Hands, Then Indeed Their Continuing In Office Becomes Dangerous To The State

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

If Our Legislature Does Not Heartily Push Our University [of Virginia] We Must Send Our Children For Education To Kentucky [transylvania College] Or Cambridge [harvard College]. The Latter Will Return Them To Us As Fanatics And Tories, The Former Will Keep Them To Add To Their Population.

Never Trouble Another For What You Can Do Yourself

The Most Successful War Seldom Pays For Its Losses.

I Am Not An Advocate For Frequent Changes In Laws And Constitutions. But Laws And Institutions Must Go Hand In Hand With The Progress Of The Human Mind. As That Becomes More Developed, More Enlightened, As New Discoveries Are Made, New Truths Discovered And Manners And Opinions Change, With The Change Of Circumstances, Institutions Must Advance Also To Keep Pace With The Times. We Might As Well Require A Man To Wear Still The Coat Which Fitted Him When A Boy As Civilized Society To Remain Ever Under The Regimen Of Their Barbarous Ancestors.

I Have Never Been Able To Conceive How Any Rational Being Could Propose Happiness To Himself From The Exercise Of Power Over Others... An Honest Man Can Feel No Pleasure In The Exercise Of Power Over His Fellow Citizens.... Power Is Not Alluring To Pure Minds And Is Not With Them The Primary Principle Of Contest.

In Short I Must Confide In You To Take Such Care Of The Men Under You As An Economical Householder Would Of His Own Family, Doingevery Thing Within Himself As Far As He Can, And Calling For As Few Supplies As Possible. The Less You Depend For Supplies From This Quarter, The Less You Will Be Disappointed.

When Great Evils Happen, I Am In The Habit Of Looking Out For What Good May Arise From Them As Consolations To Us, And Providence Has In Fact So Established The Order Of Things, As That Most Evils Are The Means Of Producing Some Good.

Let Our Countrymen Know That The People Alone Can Protect Us Against These Evils Of Misgovernment.

What Has Been The Effect Of Coercion? To Make One Half The World Fools, And The Other Half Hypocrites. To Support Roguery And Error All Over The Earth.... [instead] Reason And Persuasion Are The Only Practicable Instruments. To Make Way For These, Free Enquiry Must Be Indulged; And How Can We Wish Others To Indulge It While We Refuse It Ourselves?

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

Even In Europe A Change Has Sensibly Taken Place In The Mind Of Man. Science Has Liberated The Ideas Of Those Who Read And Reflect, And The American Example Has Kindled Feelings Of Right In The People. An Insurrection Has Consequently Begun Of Science Talents And Courage Against Rank And Birth, Which Have Fallen Into Contempt. It Has Failed In Its First Effort, Because The Mobs Of The Cities, The Instrument Used For Its Accomplishment, Debased By Ignorance, Poverty And Vice, Could Not Be Restrained To Rational Action. But The World Will Soon Recover From The Panic Of This First Catastrophe.

It Is Between Fifty And Sixty Years Since I Read It (i.e. The Book Of Revelations), And I Then Considered It Merely The Ravings Of A Maniac, No More Worthy Nor Capable Of Explanation Than The Incoherence Of Our Own Nightly Dreams.

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.

Health Is Value Greater Than Studying.

Believing With You That Religion Is A Matter Which Lies Solely Between Man And His God, That He Owes Account To None Other For His Faith Or His Worship, That The Legislative Powers Of Government Reach Actions Only, And Not Opinions, I Contemplate With Sovereign Reverence That Act Of The Whole American People Which Declared That Their Legislature Should 'make No Law Respecting An Establishment Of Religion, Or Prohibiting The Free Exercise Thereof,' Thus Building A Wall Of Separation Between Church And State.

Moral Law, Evidence Of.- Man Has Been Subjected By His Creator To The Moral Law, Of Which His Feelings, Or Conscience As It Is Sometimes Called, Are The Evidence With Which His Creator Has Furnished Him. ... The Moral Duties Which Exist Between Individual And Individual In A State Of Nature, Accompany Them Into A State Of Society ... Their Maker Not Having Released Them From Those Duties On Their Forming Themselves Into A Nation.

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

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

A Government Regulating Itself By What Is Wise And Just For The Many, Uninfluenced By The Local And Selfish Views Of The Few Who Direct Their Affairs, Has Not Been Seen, Perhaps, On Earth. Or If It Existed For A Moment At The Birth Of Ours, It Would Not Be Easy To Fix The Term Of Its Continuance. Still, I Believe It Does Exist Here In A Greater Degree Than Anywhere Else; And For Its Growth And Continuance... I Offer Sincere Prayers.

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

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.

Revenue On The Consumption Of Foreign Articles Is Paid Cheerfully By Those Who Can Afford To Add Foreign Luxuries To Domestic Comforts.

Are We To Have A Censor Whose Imprimatur Shall Say What Books May Be Sold, And What We May Buy? And Who Is Thus To Dogmatize Religious Opinions For Our Citizens? Whose Foot Is To Be The Measure To Which Ours Are All To Be Cut Or Stretched? Is A Priest To Be Our Inquisitor, Or Shall A Layman, Simple As Ourselves, Set Up His Reason As The Rule Of What We Are To Read, And What We Must Believe?

I Shall See With Sincere Satisfaction The Progress Of Those Sentiments Which Tend To Restore To Man All His Natural Rights, Convinced He Has No Natural Right In Opposition To His Social Duties.

With Respect To Our State And Federal Governments, I Do Not Think Their Relations Correctly Understood By Foreigners. They Generally Suppose The Former Subordinate To The Latter. But This Is Not The Case. They Are Co-ordinate Departments Of One Simple And Integral Whole.

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

No Freeman Shall Be Debarred The Use Of Arms.

Second Amendment

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.

Congress Has Scarcely Any Thing To Employ Them, And Complain That The Place [washington, D.c.] Is Remarkably Dull.

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

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

When The Course Of Events Shall Have Removed You To Distant Scenes Of Action Where Laurels Not Nurtured With The Blood Of My Country May Be Gathered, I Shall Urge Sincere Prayers For Your Obtaining Every Honor And Preferment Which May Gladden The Heart Of A Soldier.

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

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

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.

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.

I Feel Much Alarmed At The Prospect Of Seeing General Jackson President. He Is The Most Unfit Man I Know For Such A Place.

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.

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

I See No Comfort In Outliving One's Friends, And Remaining A Mere Monument Of The Times Which Are Past.

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

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.

Error Indeed Has Often Prevailed By The Assistance Of Power Or Force. Truth Is The Proper And Sufficient Antagonist To Error.

It Is A Happy Circumstance In Human Affairs That Evils Which Are Not Cured In One Way Will Cure Themselves In Some Other.

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.

He Who Receives An Idea From Me, Receives Instruction Himself Without Lessening Mine; As He Who Lights His Taper At Mine, Receives Light Without Darkening Me.

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.

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

Above All I Hope That The Education Of The Common People Will Be Attended To So They Won't Forget The Basic Principles Of Freedom.

Nothing Is So Disgusting To Our Sex As Want Of Cleanliness And Delicacy In Yours.

Every Gentleman Plays Billiards, But Someone Who Plays Billiards Too Well, Is No Gentleman.

The Inhabitants Of The Ceded Territory Shall Be Incorporated In The Union Of The United States, And Admitted As Soon As Possible, According To The Principles Of The Federal Constitution, To The Enjoyment Of All The Rights, Advantages, And Immunities, Of Citizens Of The United States; And, In The Mean Time, They Shall Be Maintained And Protected In The Free Enjoyment Of Their Liberty, Property, And The Religion Which They Profess.

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

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.

If A Sect Arises Whose Tenets Would Subvert Morals, Good Sense Has Fair Play And Reasons And Laughs It Out Of Doors Without Suffering The State To Be Troubled With It.

Say Nothing Of My Religion. It Is Known To God And Myself Alone.

The Great Object Of My Fear Is The Federal Judiciary. That Body, Like Gravity, Ever Acting, With Noiseless Foot, And Unalarming Advance, Gaining Ground Step By Step, And Holding What It Gains, Is Ingulfing Insidiously The Special Governments Into The Jaws Of That Which Feeds Them.

Well Aware That The Opinions And Belief Of Men Depend Not On Their Own Will, But Follow Involuntarily The Evidence Proposed To Their Minds; That Almighty God Hath Created The Mind Free, And Manifested His Supreme Will That Free It Shall Remain By Making It Altogether Insusceptible Of Restraint; That All Attempts To Influence It By Temporal Punishments, Or Burthens, Or By Civil Incapacitations, Tend Only To Beget Habits Of Hypocrisy And Meanness, And Are A Departure From The Plan Of The Holy Author Of Our Religion.

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.

Truth Between Candid Minds Can Never Do Harm.

I Would Rather Be Exposed To The Inconveniences Attending Too Much Liberty Than Those Attending Too Small A Degree Of It.

It Is Wonderful How Much May Be Done If We Are Always Doing.

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.

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

I Never Before Knew The Full Value Of Trees....what Would I Not Give That The Trees Planted Nearest Round The House At Monticello Were Full Grown.

I Consider The Government Of The U.s. As Interdicted By The Constitution From Intermeddling With Religious Institutions, Their Doctrines, Discipline, Or Exercises.

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

The True Theory Of Our Constitution Is Surely The Wisest And Best, That The States Are Independent As To Everything Within Themselves And United As To Everything Respecting Foreign Nations. Let The General Government Be Reduced To Foreign Concerns Only.

If Virtuous, The Government Need Not Fear The Fair Operation Of Attack And Defense. Nature Has Given To Man No Other Means Of Sifting The Truth, Either In Religion, Law, Or Politics.

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.

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

Vegetarian Diet

The Christian God Can Easily Be Pictured As Virtually The Same God As The Many Ancient Gods Of Past Civilizations. The Christian God Is A Three Headed Monster Cruel Vengeful And Capricious. If One Wishes To Know More Of This Raging Three Headed Beast Like God One Only Needs To Look At The Caliber Of People Who Say They Serve Him. They Are Always Of Two Classes Fools And Hypocrites.

The Constitution On Which Our Union Rests, Shall Be Administered By Me [as President] According To The Safe And Honest Meaning Contemplated By The Plain Understanding Of The People Of The United States At The Time Of Its Adoption - A Meaning To Be Found In The Explanations Of Those Who Advocated, Not Those Who Opposed It, And Who Opposed It Merely Lest The Construction Should Be Applied Which They Denounced As Possible.

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.

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

A Candle Loses Nothing When It Lights Another Candle.

Founding Fathers Democracy

Those Who Don’t Read The Newspapers Are Better Off Than Those Who Do Insofar As Those Who Know Nothing Are Better Off Than Those Whose Heads Are Filled With Half-truths And Lies.

I Think By Far The Most Important Bill In Our Whole Code Is That For The Diffusion Of Knowlege Among The People. No Other Sure Foundation Can Be Devised For The Preservation Of Freedom, And Happiness.

If You Are Obliged To Neglect Any Thing, Let It Be Your Chemistry. It Is The Least Useful And The Least Amusing To A Country Gentleman Of All The Ordinary Branches Of Science.

There Are Other Places At Which ... The Laws Have Said There Shall Be Towns; But Nature Has Said There Shall Not, And They Remain Unworthy Of Enumeration.

There Is Not A Truth Existing Which I Fear... Or Would Wish Unknown To The Whole World.

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

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.

If Any Doubt Has Arisen As To Me, My Country [virginia] Will Have My Political Creed In The Form Of A "declaration &c." Which I Was Lately Directed To Draw. This Will Give Decisive Proof That My Own Sentiment Concurred With The Vote They Instructed Us To Give.

The Moral Sense Is As Much A Part Of Our Constitution As That Of Feeling, Seeing, Or Hearing.

Ambition Is A Tricky Little Animal To Tame. It Is Very Skillful At Concealing Itself From Its Master.

Conquest Is Not In Our Principles. It Is Inconsistent With Our Government.

Question With Boldness Even The Existence Of A God; Because, If There Be One, He Must More Approve Of The Homage Of Reason, Than That Of Blind-folded Fear.

I Think Our Governments Will Remain Virtuous For Many Centuries; As Long As They Are Chiefly Agricultural.

It Is Well Known, That On The Ohio, And In Many Parts Of America Further North, Tusks, Grinders, And Skeletons Of Unparalleled Magnitude Are Found In Great Numbers, Some Lying On The Surface Of The Earth, And Some A Little Below It ... But To Whatever Animal We Ascribe These Remains, It Is Certain That Such A One Has Existed In America, And That It Has Been The Largest Of All Terrestrial Beings.

We Did Not Raise Armies For Glory Or For Conquest.

In Every Country And In Every Age, The Priest Has Been Hostile To Liberty. He Is Always In Alliance With The Despot, Abetting His Abuses In Return For Protection To His Own.

Men Of Quality Are Not Threatened By Women Of Equality

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

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 Press Is Impotent When It Abandons Itself To Falsehood.

Trial By Jury Is Part Of The Bright Constellation Which Leads To Peace, Liberty And Safety.

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

If Ever There Was A Holy War, It Was That Which Saved Our Liberties And Gave Us Independence.

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.

That Government Is The Strongest Of Which Every Man Feels Himself A Part.

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

Every Human Being Must Be Viewed According To What It Is Good For. For Not One Of Us, No, Not One, Is Perfect. And Were We To Love None Who Had Imperfection, This World Would Be A Desert For Our Love.

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

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

Difference Of Opinion Leads To Enquiry, And Enquiry To Truth; And I Am Sure...we Both Value Too Much The Freedom Of Opinion Sanctioned By Our Constitution, Not To Cherish Its Exercise Even Where In Opposition To Ourselves.

Would It Not Be Better To Simplify The System Of Taxation Rather Than To Spread It Over Such A Variety Of Subjects And Pass Through So Many New Hands.

This Ball Of Liberty, I Believe Most Piously, Is Now So Well In Motion That It Will Roll Round The Globe. At Least The Enlightened Part Of It, For Light & Liberty Go Together.

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.

Many Are The Exercises Of Power Reserved To The States Wherein A Uniformity Of Proceeding Would Be Advantageous To All. Such Are Quarantines, Health Laws, Regulations Of The Press, Banking Institutions, Training Militia, Etc., Etc.

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.

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.

As New Discoveries Are Made, New Truths Discovered And Manners And Opinions Change With The Change Of Circumstances, Institutions Must Advance Also To Keep Pace With The Times.

Cultivators Of The Earth Are The Most Valuable Citizens. They Are The Most Vigorous, The Most Independent, The Most Virtuous And They Are Tied To Their Country And Wedded To Its Liberty And Interests By The Most Lasting Bands.

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

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

Most Men Die At Age 25, But Aren't Buried Until 70.

Never Did A Prisoner, Released From His Chains, Feel Such Relief As I Shall On Shaking Off The Shackles Of Power.

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

I Do Not Find In Orthodox Christianity One Redeeming Feature.

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

All Through Your Life, You'll Be Faced With Making A Decision Between Two Things-choose The One That Is Right. If They Are Both Right, Then Choose The One That Will Make You Feel The Best About It At The End Of The Day.

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

Speeches That Are Measured By The Hour Will Die With The Hour.

It Is Reasonable That Everyone Who Asks Justice Should Do Justice

Experience Demands That Man Is The Only Animal Which Devours His Own Kind, For I Can Apply No Milder Term To The General Prey Of The Rich On The Poor.

Economic Inequality

Life Is Of No Value But As It Brings Gratifications. Among The Most Valuable Of These Is Rational Society. It Informs The Mind, Sweetens The Temper, Chears Our Spirits, And Promotes Health.

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

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.

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.

No Stile Of Writing Is So Delightful As That Which Is All Pith, Which Never Omits A Necessary Word, Nor Uses An Unnecessary One.

On The Dogmas Of Religion, As Distinguished From Moral Principles, All Mankind, From The Beginning Of The World To This Day, Have Been Quarrelling, Fighting, Burning And Torturing One Another, For Abstractions Unintelligible To Themselves And To All Others, And Absolutely Beyond The Comprehension Of The Human Mind.

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident: That All Men Are Created Equal; That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Unalienable Rights; That Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.

That The Several States Who Formed That Instrument, Being Sovereign And Independent, Have The Unquestionable Right To Judge Of Its Infraction; And That A Nullification, By Those Sovereignties, Of All Unauthorized Acts Done Under Colour Of That Instrument, Is The Rightful Remedy.

Industry, Commerce And Security Are The Surest Roads To The Happiness And Prosperity Of People.

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.

Whenever The People Are Well-informed, They Can Be Trusted With Their Own Government.

No Man Shall Be Compelled To Frequent Or Support Any Religious Worship, Place, Or Ministry Whatsoever.

Where A New Invention Promises To Be Useful, It Ought To Be Tried.

Without Virtue, Happiness Cannot Be.

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

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

While The Farmer Holds The Title To The Land, Actually, It Belongs To All The People Because Civilization Itself Rests Upon The Soil.

The Most Fortunate Of Us, In Our Journey Through Life, Frequently Meet With Calamities And Misfortunes Which May Greatly Afflict Us; And, To Fortify Our Minds Against The Attacks Of These Calamities And Misfortunes, Should Be One Of The Principal Studies And Endeavors Of Our Lives.

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

I Wish I Was A Despot That I Might Save The Noble, The Beautiful Trees That Are Daily Falling Sacrifice To The Cupidity Of Their Owners, Or The Necessity Of The Poor. The Unnecessary Felling Of A Tree, Perhaps The Growth Of Centuries, Seems To Me A Crime Little Short Of Murder.

A Noiseless Course, Not Meddling With The Affairs Of Others, Unattractive Of Notice, Is A Mark That Society Is Going On In Happiness. If We Can Prevent The Government From Wasting The Labors Of The People Under The Pretense Of Taking Care Of Them, They Must Become Happy.

Nothing Can Now Be Believed Which Is Seen In A Newspaper. Truth Itself Becomes Suspicious By Being Put Into That Polluted Vehicle. The Real Extent Of This State Of Misinformation Is Known Only To Those Who Are In Situations To Confront Facts Within Their Knowledge With The Lies Of The Day.

The Genius Of Architecture Seems To Have Shed Its Maledictions Over This Land.

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

Second Amendment

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.

Force Is The Vital Principle And Immediate Parent Of Despotism.

A Determination Never To Do What Is Wrong, Prudence, And Good-humor, Will Go Far Toward Securing To You The Estimation Of The World.

In The Middle Ages Of Christianity Opposition To The State Opinions Was Hushed. The Consequence Was, Christianity Became Loaded With All The Romish Follies. Nothing But Free Argument, Raillery & Even Ridicule Will Preserve The Purity Of Religion.

The Way To Have Good And Safe Government Is Not To Trust It All To One, But To Divide It Among The Many, Distributing To Everyone Exactly The Functions In Which He Is Competent ... It Is By Dividing And Subdividing These Republics From The Great National One Down Through All Its Subordinations Until It Ends In The Administration Of Everyman's Farm By Himself, By Placing Under Everyone What His Own Eye May Superintend, That All Will Be Done For The Best.

The Central Bank Is An Institution Of The Most Deadly Hostility Existing Against The Principles And Form Of Our Constitution.

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

When Wrongs Are Pressed Because It Is Believed They Will Be Borne, Resistance Becomes Morality.

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

The Only Orthodox Object Of The Institution Of Government Is To Secure The Greatest Degree Of Happiness Possible To The General Mass Of Those Associated Under It.

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

The Merchants Will Manage [commerce] The Better, The More They Are Left Free To Manage For Themselves.

Equal Rights For All, Special Privileges For None

Good Humor Is One Of The Preservatives Of Our Peace And Tranquility.

Peace And Tranquility

Having Seen The People Of All Other Nations Bowed Down To The Earth Under The Wars And Prodigalities Of Their Rulers, I Have Cherished Their Opposites, Peace, Economy, And Riddance Of Public Debt, Believing That These Were The High Road To Public As Well As Private Prosperity And Happiness.

My God! How Little Do My Countrymen Know What Precious Blessings They Are In Possession Of, And Which No Other People On Earth Enjoy!

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

In A Republican Nation Whose Citizens Are To Be Led By Reason And Persuasion And Not By Force, The Art Of Reasoning Becomes Of First Importance.

Every Society Has A Right To Fix The Fundamental Principles Of Its Association, And To Say To All Individuals, That If They Contemplate Pursuits Beyond The Limits Of These Principles And Involving Dangers Which The Society Chooses To Avoid, They Must Go Somewhere Else For Their Exercise; That We Want No Citizens, And Still Less Ephemeral And Pseudo-citizens, On Such Terms. We May Exclude Them From Our Territory, As We Do Persons Infected With Disease.

The Happiness Of Society Depends So Much On Preventing Party Spirit From Infecting The Common Intercourse Of Life, That Nothing Should Be Spared To Harmonize And Amalgamate The Two Parties In Social Circles.

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

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

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.

Pursuit Of Happiness

A Coward Is Much More Exposed To Quarrels Than A Man Of Spirit.

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.

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

Democracies Have

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.

The Right Of Self-government Does Not Comprehend The Government Of Others.

The Most Effective Means Of Preventing Tyranny Is To Illuminate, As Far As Practicable, The Minds Of The People At Large, And More Especially To Give Them Knowledge Of Those Facts.

All We Can Do Is To Make The Best Of Our Friends, Love And Cherish What Is Good In Them, And Keep Out Of The Way What Is Bad.

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

A Great Deal Of Love Given To A Few Is Better Than A Little To Many.

It Is More Dangerous That Even A Guilty Person Should Be Punished Without The Forms Of Law Than That He Should Escape.

I... [proposed] Three Distinct Grades Of Education, Reaching All Classes. 1. Elementary Schools For All Children Generally, Rich And Poor. 2. Colleges For A Middle Degree Of Instruction, Calculated For The Common Purposes Of Life And Such As Should Be Desirable For All Who Were In Easy Circumstances. And 3d. An Ultimate Grade For Teaching The Sciences Generally And In Their Highest Degree... The Expenses Of [the Elementary] Schools Should Be Borne By The Inhabitants Of The County, Every One In Proportion To His General Tax-rate. This Would Throw On Wealth The Education Of The Poor.

While Learning The Language In France A Young Man's Morals, Health And Fortune Are More Irresistibly Endangered Than In Any Country Of The Universe.

Though The Will Of The Majority Is In All Cases To Prevail, That Will, To Be Rightful, Must Be Reasonable.

Tyranny Of The Majority

God Forbid We Should Ever Be Twenty Years Without Such A Rebellion.

Second Amendment

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.

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.

To Lay Taxes To Provide For The General Welfare Of The United States, That Is To Say, 'to Lay Taxes For The Purpose Of Providing For The General Welfare.' For The Laying Of Taxes Is The Power, And The General Welfare The Purpose For Which The Power Is To Be Exercised. They Are Not To Lay Taxes Ad Libitum For Any Purpose They Please; But Only To Pay The Debts Or Provide For The Welfare Of The Union.

We Are Completely Saddled And Bridled, And... The Bank Is So Firmly Mounted On Us That We Must Go Where It Will Guide.

Whose Foot Is To Be The Measure To Which Ours Are All To Be Cut Or Stretched?

We Prefer War In All Cases To Tribute Under Any Form And To Any People Whatever.

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.

A Room Without Books Is Like A Life Without Meaning.

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

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.

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Bernard Cornwell

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