The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

If we did a good act merely from love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? ...Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God.

When we consider how much climate contributes to the happiness of our condition, by the fine sensation it excites, and the productions it is the parent of, we have reason to value highly the accident of birth in such a one as that of Virginia.

An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy.

The past stays put, I just keep moving farther away from it.

The general (federal) government will tend to monarchy, which will fortify itself from day to day, instead of working its own cures.

Circumstances sometimes require, that rights the most unquestionable should be advanced with delicacy.