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 any 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. 1 I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively. 2


Thomas Jefferson

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no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoeve...
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Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes...
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From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step th...
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Most of us think we're too busy or too important to rest for a day.
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I’ve tried so hard to stay away from you,” he whispered one night, cuddling her while the moonli...
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Thou shalt understand that it is a science most profitable, and passing all other sciences, for to l...
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yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men are not the o...
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but for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.
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Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.
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Let all people live in harmony… Men should be taught and won over by reason, not by blows, insults,...
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If I or my soldiers have plundered or done injury to the houses or to the ministers of religion, I r...
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A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them o...
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To be, or not to be: what a question!
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In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the beli...
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In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the beli...
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No one is good or bad by default, they are what they choose to be.
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I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in reli...
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Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that...
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Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is no l...
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Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is ...
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If not to God, you will surrender to the opinions or expectations of others, to money, to resentment...
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The parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of fait...
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The parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of fait...
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Great men or men of great gifts you shall easily find, but symmetrical men never.
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All the great evils which men cause to each other because of certain intentions, desires, opinions, ...
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Our civilization, such as it is, was shaped by religion, and the men who aspire to public office any...
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The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.
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Religious doctrines … are all illusions, they do not admit of proof, and no one can be compelled t...
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The Plagiarism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy mode, which some adroitly employ to ...
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So long as you are a slave to the opinions of the many you have not yet approached freedom or tasted...
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So long as you are a slave to the opinions of the many you have not yet approached freedom or tasted...
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Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely. 'Tis ped...
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No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adhere...
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Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or...
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If you were to ask everyone what 'Hamlet' was about, they might say, "It's about a ...
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No power of government ought to be employed in the endeavor to establish any system or article of be...
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All men will commence in their present rank and promotion will be open to all men alike, without any...
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The more God is glorified the more man is energic and the more satan is weak.
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Peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nationsentangling alliances with none.
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Here was buried Thomas Jefferson author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute o...
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The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.
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It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and to talk by the hour.
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Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations...entangling alliances with none
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For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead...
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The man who fears no truth has nothing to fear from lies.
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It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
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Conscience is the chamber of justice.
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Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life.
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The earth is given as a common for men to labor and live in.
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There exists indeed an opposition to it [building of UVA, Jefferson's secular college] by the...
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Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.
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Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
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Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities.
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THOMAS JEFFERSON
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending t...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nati...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
When angry, count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, ...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of m...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are then mo...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The selfish spirit of commerce, which knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that o...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under a...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficult...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolish...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time t...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and ...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by th...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever ...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate ob...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office
THOMAS JEFFERSON
That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fi...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my fam...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free ...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
We seldom report of having eaten too little.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Tranquility is the old man's milk.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions,...
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
In matters of principals, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.
THOMAS JEFFERSON