No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends.

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?

If our legislature does not heartily push our University [of Virginia] we must send our children for education to Kentucky [Transylvania College] or Cambridge [Harvard College]. The latter will return them to us as fanatics and tories, the former will keep them to add to their population.

Were I to commence my administration again, the first question I would ask respecting a candidate would be, Does he use ardent spirits?

Religion, morality, and knowledge are necessary for good government... Therefore schools and the means of educating the people should always be encouraged.

the qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. they are the result of habit and long training.

Freedom, the first-born of science.