Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

It may be regarded as certain that not a foot of land will ever be taken from the Indians without their own consent.

The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind.

If the book be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But, for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides, if we choose.

If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else.

Every generation needs a new revolution.