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 legitimate 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.
Thomas Jefferson
Related ...legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovere... THOMAS JEFFERSON Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercis... JAMES MADISON Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise... DONALD RUMSFELD Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise... US CONSTITUTION The phrase ‘separation of church and state,’ which appears in no founding document (only in a le... DENNIS PRAGER A simple philosophy to stick to would be that religion and the promotion of religious opinion is non... GENE GARMAN A simple philosophy to stick to would be that religion and the promotion of religious opinion is non... GENE GARMAN Religion is not something that you or I can touch. Religion is the worship of God—therefore a matt... MATTHEW KELLY The two men had a conversation. Brief, cryptic, to the point. As though they had exchanged numbers a... ARUNDHATI ROY The difference between a saint and a hypocrite is that one lies for his religion, the other by it. MINNA ANTRIM no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoeve... THOMAS JEFFERSON That man that killed another man is no criminal nor should he be consider an evil man for his action... ENRIQUE MIGUEL ALCALA SILVA When Hegel later became a man of influence' he insisted that the Jews should be granted equal ri... WALTER KAUFMANN I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other y... JOHN F. KENNEDY I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic pre... JOHN F. KENNEDY The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion... KARL MARX Faith belongs to the human spirit. Faith is faith. Humanity is divided by religion, religion is the ... C. JOYBELL C. The Way is not a religion: Christianity is the end of religion. 'Religion' means here the di... DAVID KIRK The Way is not a religion: Christianity is the end of religion. 'Religion' means here the division b... DAVID KIRK Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or bur... THOMAS JEFFERSON The Legislature, which was elected under the Constitution framed and supported by colored men, decla... HIRAM RHODES REVELS It is no wonder that advocates of Obamacare blindly push forward with their agenda to force religiou... BEN SHAPIRO The real duties of an ambassador are to enter into or follow negotiations between his own government... DAVID K. E. BRUCE Food Allergies Are Not Due to Food, Rather Are Due to the Constant Contamination of That Food That Y... THEHEALTHFOODGURU Between the natural way and the path of grace there is a deep abyss. It is in that gap that we live ... HAIM SHAPIRA One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests. THOMAS PAINE When the government puts its imprimatur on a particular religion it conveys a message of exclusion t... HARRY A. BLACKMUN The Covenant of Grace is that eternal and intimate bond of friendship that God has established with ... JOSEPH C. MORECRAFT III I realized that day that blessings come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. CRAIG GROESCHEL When we seek to understand liberty, equality, progress, constitutional governance, separation of chu... R.B. BERNSTEIN But I account the use that a man should seek of the publishing of
his own writings before his death... FRANCIS BACON Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No ... THEODORE ROOSEVELT The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has ... JOHN C. DANFORTH Besides the danger of a direct mixture of religion and civil government, there is an evil which ough... JAMES MADISON Ideas of superiority and inferiority arise only in a heart corrupted by egoism. If someone argues th... SRI SATHYA SAI BABA Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficul... SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200 The Way is not a religion: Christianity i... DAVID KIRK The perfection of His relation to us swallows up all our imperfections, all our defeats, all our evi... GEORGE MACDONALD We need to understand the difference between freedom of religion - which is absolutely guaranteed an... GARY JOHNSON I'm asking God to bless you with something that unsettles you, disturbs you, and upsets you. CRAIG GROESCHEL Let your little inspire someone greatly and greatly be the reasons for the smiles of someone in litt... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Let your little inspires someone greatly and greatly be the reasons for the smiles of someone in lit... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Business is religion, and religion is business. The man who does not make a business of his religion... MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK We should know that faith is a gift of God, and that it may not be given to men, except it be gracio... JOHN WYCLIFFE A peasant dies calmly because he is not a Christian. He performs the rituals as a matter of course, ... LEO NIKOLAEVICH TOLSTOY No man speaketh, or should speak, of his prince, that which he hath not weighed whether it will cons... ISAAC BARROW Arguments for atheism can be divided into two main categories: those that dispute the existence of g... CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS I'm ready to go back to Eden, where there was only God and His Creation. No church, no religion, no ... DEDRICK D. L. PITTER I hope that no American . . . will waste his franchise and throw
away his vote by voting either for... DOUGLAS JERROLD I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or ... JOHN F. KENNEDY I hope that no American...will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me o... JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY The constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion must at least me... HUGO BLACK The next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our foundi... DAN BARKER The next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our foundi... DAN BARKER yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men are not the o... THOMAS JEFFERSON Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man ma... SAMUEL BUTLER The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever the Bible and sword are in partn... ROBERT G. INGERSOLL Benevolence It is the glory of the true religion that it inculcates and inspires a spirit of benevol... SOURCE UNKNOWN Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics or religion which he got otherwise th... MARK TWAIN Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number o... OSWALD CHAMBERS I had forgotten that God, or the world, or whatever carves the rules in stone, doesn't give you time... TANA FRENCH At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings... AYN RAND Feast of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155 He who was raised from the dead will raise us ... MICHAEL BRUCE People seem unable to admit this principle of chance. Our spirits are not strong enough to stand the... SHōHEI ŌOKA Millions of people acknowledge today that they do not know the meaning of life. JAMES C. DOBSON The Biggest Threat to our Democracy, Freedoms and Future is Leadership that fosters and Appeases the... MICHAEL HARRIS The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless str... JAMES MADISON Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the stri... EDMUND BURKE In such a state, humility is the virtue of men, and their only defense; to walk humbly with God, nev... PAUL ELMER MORE The power of God is the worship He inspires. That religion is strong which in its ritual and its mod... ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political po... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN To ask a man whether or not he has a girlfriend is to talk about his sex life. If you disagree with ... MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities War. He is the only one that gather... MARK TWAIN Let us not, in the pride of our superior knowledge, turn with contempt from the follies of our prede... CHARLES MACKAY As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian rel... JOHN ADAMS My conception of the audience is of a public each member of which is carrying about with him what he... ARTHUR MILLER I confess that I do not understand the principle on which the power to fix a minimum for the wages o... OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor an... JAMES A. MICHENER The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his
work and his play, his labor an... ZEN BUDDHIST The separation of church and state is a source of strength, but the conscience of our nation does no... LYNDON B. JOHNSON The only deadly disease I have seen that is causing great harm and massacre latently yet the world h... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Secondly, the proper counsel and intention of God in sending his Son into the world to die was, that... JOHN OWEN Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. While we have a Constitution that is very strong in the sense that we are not gonna have a religion ... KEN BUCK To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in He... ARTHUR W. PINK You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other... MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is ... JOHN TYLER You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other... MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH The old pagans had to choose between a brilliant, jangling, irresponsible universe, alive with lawle... JOY DAVIDMAN I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolutewhere no Catholic prelat... JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY The average man votes below himself; he votes with half a mind or a hundredth part of one. A man oug... G. K. CHESTERTON Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is no ... JOHN TYLER Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is no l... JOHN TYLER The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the rela... DAVID OGILVY our civil rights have no dependance on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics... THOMAS JEFFERSON From faith, hope, and love, the virtues of religion referring to God, there arises a double act whic... WILLIAM AMES The study of Scripture I find to be quite like mastering an instrument. No one is so good that they ... CRISS JAMI The philosopher believes that the value of his philosophy lies in the whole, in the building: poster... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE I believe that your religion should be between you and whoever your belief is in. ZAYN MALIK
More Thomas Jefferson
An injured friend is the bitterest of foes. THOMAS JEFFERSON A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit. THOMAS JEFFERSON The most successful war seldom pays for its losses. THOMAS JEFFERSON The second office in the government is honorable and easy; the first is but a splendid misery. THOMAS JEFFERSON Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor ... THOMAS JEFFERSON So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be sa... THOMAS JEFFERSON I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind. THOMAS JEFFERSON We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed. THOMAS JEFFERSON There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me. THOMAS JEFFERSON When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Euro... THOMAS JEFFERSON Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe. THOMAS JEFFERSON For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their be... THOMAS JEFFERSON If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was a... THOMAS JEFFERSON If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should hav... THOMAS JEFFERSON The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism. THOMAS JEFFERSON One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them. THOMAS JEFFERSON I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office. THOMAS JEFFERSON Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people. THOMAS JEFFERSON Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he ... THOMAS JEFFERSON It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good. THOMAS JEFFERSON Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves a... THOMAS JEFFERSON It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. THOMAS JEFFERSON Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our o... THOMAS JEFFERSON I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results... THOMAS JEFFERSON No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying as to put the right man in the right place. THOMAS JEFFERSON It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by who... THOMAS JEFFERSON The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor... THOMAS JEFFERSON To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful an... THOMAS JEFFERSON Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to... THOMAS JEFFERSON Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do. THOMAS JEFFERSON The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. THOMAS JEFFERSON I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another. THOMAS JEFFERSON Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society. THOMAS JEFFERSON Always take hold of things by the smooth handle. THOMAS JEFFERSON Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. THOMAS JEFFERSON Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man. THOMAS JEFFERSON It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wr... THOMAS JEFFERSON No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will. THOMAS JEFFERSON No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms. THOMAS JEFFERSON No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it. THOMAS JEFFERSON He who knows best knows how little he knows. THOMAS JEFFERSON Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have,... THOMAS JEFFERSON To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by educat... THOMAS JEFFERSON Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. THOMAS JEFFERSON It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness. THOMAS JEFFERSON The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noi... THOMAS JEFFERSON The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working unde... THOMAS JEFFERSON When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property. THOMAS JEFFERSON The second office of this government is honorable & easy, the first is but a splendid misery. THOMAS JEFFERSON The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the stre... THOMAS JEFFERSON A sense of this necessity, and a submission to it, is to me a new and consolatory proof that whereve... THOMAS JEFFERSON With earnest prayers to all my friends to cherish mutual good will, to promote harmony and conciliat... THOMAS JEFFERSON The question Whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been sta... THOMAS JEFFERSON The art of reasoning becomes of first importance. In this line antiquity has left us the finest mode... THOMAS JEFFERSON If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let... THOMAS JEFFERSON But let me beseech you, Sir, not to let this letter get into a newspaper. Tranquillity, at my age, i... THOMAS JEFFERSON If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by ... THOMAS JEFFERSON We must train and classify the whole of our male citizens, and make military instruction a regular p... THOMAS JEFFERSON A Decalogue of Canons for observation in practical life. 1. Never put off till to-morrow what you ca... THOMAS JEFFERSON the giver of life, who gave it for happiness and not for wretchedness. THOMAS JEFFERSON God who gave us life gave us liberty. 1 Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed... THOMAS JEFFERSON The bank mania is one of the most threatening of these imitations. It is raising up a monied aristoc... THOMAS JEFFERSON A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but i... THOMAS JEFFERSON Architecture worth great attention. As we double our numbers every 20 years we must double our house... THOMAS JEFFERSON As, for the safety of society, we commit honest maniacs to Bedlam, so judges should be withdrawn fro... THOMAS JEFFERSON Jefferson was against any needless official apparel, but if the gown was to carry, he said: For Heav... THOMAS JEFFERSON The firmness with which the people have withstood the late abuses of the press, the discernment they... THOMAS JEFFERSON At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helples... THOMAS JEFFERSON The germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; a... THOMAS JEFFERSON To draw around the whole nation the strength of the General Government, as a barrier against foreign... THOMAS JEFFERSON We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by th... THOMAS JEFFERSON We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant... THOMAS JEFFERSON I am for a government rigorously frugal & simple, applying all the possible savings of the publi... THOMAS JEFFERSON I, however, place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt ... THOMAS JEFFERSON I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our constitution. I would be willing to depe... THOMAS JEFFERSON The maxim of buying nothing without the money in our pocket to pay for it, would make of our country... THOMAS JEFFERSON Were I to commence my administration again, the first question I would ask respecting a candidate wo... THOMAS JEFFERSON And lastly, let us provide in our constitution for its revision at stated periods. THOMAS JEFFERSON Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most indepe... THOMAS JEFFERSON You have not been mistaken in supposing my views and feeling to be in favor of the abolition of war.... THOMAS JEFFERSON The character of our coasts, remarkable in considerable parts of it for admitting no vessels of size... THOMAS JEFFERSON I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must ... THOMAS JEFFERSON But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. THOMAS JEFFERSON I thought the work would be very innocent, and one which might be confided to the reason of any man;... THOMAS JEFFERSON I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all? I do not ... THOMAS JEFFERSON Yet where does this anarchy exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massach... THOMAS JEFFERSON In truth, the abuses of monarchy had so much filled all the space of political contemplation, that w... THOMAS JEFFERSON But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names ... THOMAS JEFFERSON One half of our brethren who fight and pay taxes, are excluded, like Helots, from the rights of repr... THOMAS JEFFERSON Were our State a pure democracy, in which all its inhabitants should meet together to transact all t... THOMAS JEFFERSON Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people are to be free; nor is... THOMAS JEFFERSON With your talents and industry, with science, and that stedfast honesty which eternally pursues righ... THOMAS JEFFERSON The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have past at home in the bosom of my famil... THOMAS JEFFERSON Perfect happiness I believe was never intended by the deity to be the lot of any one of his creature... THOMAS JEFFERSON Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on th... THOMAS JEFFERSON We are endeavoring, too, to reduce the government to the practice of a rigorous economy, to avoid bu... THOMAS JEFFERSON The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projec... THOMAS JEFFERSON The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. are the sole objects of all legit... THOMAS JEFFERSON If, in my retirement to the humble station of a private citizen, I am accompanied with the esteem an... THOMAS JEFFERSON Were we directed from Washington when to sow, & when to reap, we should soon want bread. THOMAS JEFFERSON If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking... THOMAS JEFFERSON I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricul... THOMAS JEFFERSON I confess I have the same fears for our South American brethren; the qualifications for self-governm... THOMAS JEFFERSON To preserve the freedom of the human mind and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to ... THOMAS JEFFERSON That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disb... THOMAS JEFFERSON Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or bur... THOMAS JEFFERSON Peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nationsentangling alliances with none. THOMAS JEFFERSON It is, therefore, with the sincerest pleasure I have observed on the part of the British government ... THOMAS JEFFERSON The desire to preserve our country from the calamities and ravages of war, by cultivating a disposit... THOMAS JEFFERSON I have come to a resolution myself as I hope every good citizen will, never again to purchase any ar... THOMAS JEFFERSON Here was buried Thomas Jefferson author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute o... THOMAS JEFFERSON If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was a... THOMAS JEFFERSON I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we... THOMAS JEFFERSON The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. THOMAS JEFFERSON It behoves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the ... THOMAS JEFFERSON There are two sides to every question, because, when there are no longer two sides it ceases to be a... THOMAS JEFFERSON I have not observed men's honesty to increase with their riches. THOMAS JEFFERSON Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to admit it. THOMAS JEFFERSON Politics are such a torment that I would advise every one I love not to mix with them. THOMAS JEFFERSON Public employment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one... THOMAS JEFFERSON The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies. THOMAS JEFFERSON Power is not alluring to pure minds THOMAS JEFFERSON I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater ... THOMAS JEFFERSON It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and to talk by the hour. THOMAS JEFFERSON Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth ... THOMAS JEFFERSON Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations...entangling alliances with none THOMAS JEFFERSON For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead... THOMAS JEFFERSON The man who fears no truth has nothing to fear from lies. THOMAS JEFFERSON It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. THOMAS JEFFERSON It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquillity and occupation which give happiness. THOMAS JEFFERSON When the moral sense is wanting, we endeavor to supply the defect by education, by appeals to reason... THOMAS JEFFERSON Conscience is the chamber of justice. THOMAS JEFFERSON That government is best which governs least, because its people discipline themselves. THOMAS JEFFERSON ...vast accession of strength from their younger recruits, who having nothing in them of the feeling... THOMAS JEFFERSON Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life. THOMAS JEFFERSON The earth is given as a common for men to labor and live in. THOMAS JEFFERSON Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil s... THOMAS JEFFERSON And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in t... THOMAS JEFFERSON There exists indeed an opposition to it [building of UVA, Jefferson's secular college ] by the... THOMAS JEFFERSON Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. THOMAS JEFFERSON Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under... THOMAS JEFFERSON Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom. THOMAS JEFFERSON I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our instit... THOMAS JEFFERSON Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. THOMAS JEFFERSON Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold. THOMAS JEFFERSON I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from th... THOMAS JEFFERSON I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater... THOMAS JEFFERSON Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to p... THOMAS JEFFERSON If you want something you've never had You must be willing to do something you've never done. THOMAS JEFFERSON The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good gener... THOMAS JEFFERSON I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary. THOMAS JEFFERSON Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of... THOMAS JEFFERSON A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. THOMAS JEFFERSON Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers w... THOMAS JEFFERSON Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you w... THOMAS JEFFERSON To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbeliev... THOMAS JEFFERSON Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. THOMAS JEFFERSON While wading through the whimsies, the puerilities, and unintelligible jargon of this work Plato's R... THOMAS JEFFERSON Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities. THOMAS JEFFERSON Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he... THOMAS JEFFERSON In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by renderi... 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 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