The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
Thomas JeffersonThe office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation, is ever more dangerous. Jesus had to work on the perilous confines of reason and religion; and a step to the right or left might place him within the grasp of the priests of the superstition, a bloodthirsty race, as cruel and remorseless as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and the local God of Israel. That Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God, physically speaking, I have been convinced by the writings of men more learned than myself in that lore.
Thomas JeffersonThat the several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and that a nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under colour of that instrument, is the rightful remedy.
Thomas JeffersonThe people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberties. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy . . . Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone.
Thomas JeffersonReligion, morality, and knowledge are necessary for good government... Therefore schools and the means of educating the people should always be encouraged.
Thomas JeffersonIt is left... to the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves to judge the law as well as the fact. They never exercise this power but when they suspect partiality in the judges; and by the exercise of this power they have been the firmest bulwarks of English liberty.
Thomas Jeffersonin the spring he will attend your botanical course. his natural turn is very strongly to the objects of your two courses of lectures, and I hope you will have reason to be contended with his capacity & character.
Thomas JeffersonNo man has greater confidence than I have in the spirit of the people, to a rational extent. Whatever they can, they will.
Thomas JeffersonBeing myself a warm zealot for the attainment & enjoiment by all mankind of as much liberty as each may exercise without injury to the equal liberty of his fellow citizens, I have lamented that in France the endeavors to obtain this should have been attended with the effusion of so much blood.
Thomas JeffersonOur fellow-citizens think they have a right to full information, in a case of such great concernment to them. It is their sweat which is to earn all the expenses of the war, and their blood which is to flow in expiation of the causes of it.
Thomas JeffersonI think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.
Thomas JeffersonThe several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government
Thomas JeffersonI have lived temperately....I double the doctor's recommendation of a glass and a half wine each day and even treble it with a friend.
Thomas JeffersonDifference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and I am sure...we both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves.
Thomas JeffersonIt behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
Thomas Jefferson[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate for long years to come. Their steady habits [will] exclude the advances of information, and they [will] seem exactly where they [have always been]. And there [the] clergy will always keep them if they can. [They] will follow the bark of liberty only by the help of a tow-rope.
Thomas JeffersonI value peace, and I should unwillingly see any event take place which would render war a necessary resource.
Thomas JeffersonCommunities should be planned with an eye to the effect on the human spirit of being continually surrounded by a maximum of beauty.
Thomas JeffersonThe Declaration of Independence . . . [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.
Thomas JeffersonFrom the nature of things, every society must at all times possess within itself the sovereign powers of legislation.
Thomas JeffersonWe do not mean to count or weigh our contributions by any standard other than that of our abilities.
Thomas JeffersonIt is surely time for men to think for themselves, and to throw off the authority of names so artificially magnified.
Thomas JeffersonLake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw; formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves... down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony.
Thomas JeffersonThe second office in the government is honorable and easy; the first is but a splendid misery.
Thomas JeffersonReading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree (for all forbid us to steal, murder, plunder, or bear false witness), and that we should not intermeddle with the particular dogmas in which all religions differ, and which are totally unconnected with morality.
Thomas JeffersonThe purse of the people is the real seat of sensibility. Let it be drawn upon largely, and they will then listen to truths which could not excite them through any other organ.
Thomas JeffersonThere are other places at which ... the laws have said there shall be towns; but Nature has said there shall not, and they remain unworthy of enumeration.
Thomas JeffersonThe clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ.
Thomas JeffersonThe art of reasoning becomes of first importance. In this line antiquity has left us the finest models for imitation; I should consider the speeches of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus, as pre-eminent specimens of logic, taste, and that sententious brevity which, using not a word to spare, leaves not a moment for inattention to the hearer. Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.
Thomas JeffersonReading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree.
Thomas JeffersonIf I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter
Thomas JeffersonIndustry, commerce and security are the surest roads to the happiness and prosperity of people.
Thomas JeffersonI am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution.
Thomas JeffersonIf the question [before justices of the peace] relate to any point of public liberty, or if it be one of those in which the judges may be suspected of bias, the jury undertake to decide both law and fact.
Thomas Jefferson