I cannot live without books: but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.

I set out on this ground which I suppose to be self-evident, that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living. . . . We seem not to perceive that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation is to another. . . . The earth belongs always to the living generations.

Our minds and hearts are free to believe everything or nothing at all - and it is our duty to protect and perpetuate this sacred culture of freedom.

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.

The equal rights of man and the happiness of every individual are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.

Wine brightens the life and thinking of anyone

I considered 4 of these bills [of the revised code of Virginia] as forming a system by which every fibre would be eradicated of antient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a government truly republican.