The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
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 Image
The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation is ever dangerous. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and opressions of the body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no passion of principle but that of gain — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
What has been the effect of religious coercion? To make half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous. . . . — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to God alone. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I consider the government of the U.S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I have ever judged of the religion of others by their lives. For it is in our lives, and not from our… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is an insult to our citizens to question whether they are rational beings or not, and blasphemy against religion to suppose… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I should . . . prefer swallowing one incomprehensibility rather than two. It requires one effort only to admit the single incomprehensibility… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Turning, then, from this loathsome combination of church and state, and weeping over the follies of our fellow men, who yield themselves… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Greeks by their laws, and the Romans by the spirit of their people, took care to put into the hands of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The religion of Jesus is founded in the Unity of God, and this principle chiefly gave it triumph over the rabble of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“...legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The whole history of these books (i.e. the Gospels) is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation, is ever more dangerous. Jesus had to work on the perilous confines… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless... From the conclusion of this… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If your letters are as long as the bible, they will appear short to me. Only let them be brim full of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The declaration that religious faith shall be unpunished does not give immunity to criminal acts dictated by religious error. — 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
![“I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/d1f/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_i-have-recently-been-examining-all-the-k_384136.jpg)
