This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, not tolerate error as long as reason is left free to combat it.

Are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule of what we are to read, and what we must believe?

Excessive taxation . . . will carry reason & reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.

Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.

If science produces no better fruits than tyranny... I would rather wish our country to be ignorant, honest and estimable as our neighbouring savages are.