Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The clergy believe that any power confided in me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes, and they believe rightly. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Preachers dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from [the clergy]. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and in-grafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions, through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and divided it… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The clergy ... believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“When the clergy addressed General Washington on his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation that he had never… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“There exists indeed an opposition to it [ building of UVA, Jefferson's secular college ] by the friends of William and Mary,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
“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,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
![“The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/895/thomas-jefferson-43_aristocracy_the-law-for-religious-freedom-has-put-do_60865.jpg)
![“The advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from [the clergy].” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/487/thomas-jefferson-43_christianity_the-advocate-of-religious-freedom-is-to_1177884.jpg)
![“The clergy ... believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/ce9/thomas-jefferson-43_altars_the-clergy-believe-that-any-portion-of-p_1301853.jpg)
![“The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of it's benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/8e7/thomas-jefferson-43_benevolent_the-christian-religion-when-divested-of_1371700.jpg)
![“[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]…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/612/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_if-the-nature-of-government-were-a-subor_2243937.jpg)
![“There exists indeed an opposition to it [ building of UVA, Jefferson's secular college ] by the friends of William and Mary, which is not strong. The most restive is that of the priests of the different religious sects, who dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of day-light; and…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/74e/thomas-jefferson-43_clergy_there-exists-indeed-an-opposition-to-it_137072.jpg)
