His [Calvin's] religion was demonism. If ever man worshiped a false God, he did. The being described in his five points is ... a demon of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all, than to blaspheme him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin

An occasional insurrection will not weigh against the inconveniences of a government of force, such as are monarchies and aristocracies.

A professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution [the University of Virginia]

Laws abridging the natural right of the citizen should be restrained by rigorous constructions within their narrowest limits.

No man complains of his neighbor for ill management of his affairs, for an error in sowing his land, or marrying his daughter, for consuming his substance in taverns ... in all these he has liberty; but if he does not frequent the church, or then conform in ceremonies, there is an immediate uproar.

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.

Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science by rendering them my supreme delight.