We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I am never tempted to pray but when a warm feeling for my friends comes athwart my heart.

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army

Some other natural rights... [have] not yet entered into any declaration of rights.

I had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to the height you describe. This must be owing to the growth of Presbyterianism. The blasphemy of the five points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them, render their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable, and prone to denunciation.