--- title: "8 Artificial Quotes By Thomas Jefferson" description: "8 Artificial quotes by Thomas Jefferson. Plus more from Thomas Jefferson and more Artificial sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/509/thomas-jefferson-43_aristocracy_there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-found_17987.jpg" --- > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/509/thomas-jefferson-43_aristocracy_there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-found_17987.jpg) > [The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-clergy-converted-the-simple-teachings-of-jesus-into-an-engine-for/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/505/thomas-jefferson-43_anti-christ_the-clergy-converted-the-simple-teaching_92180.jpg) > [Political dissension is doubtless a less evil than the lethargy of despotism: but still it is a great evil, and it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/political-dissension-is-doubtless-a-less-evil-than-the-lethargy-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/thomas-jefferson-43_able_political-dissension-is-doubtless-a-less_538116.jpg) > [The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ leveled to every understanding, and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-christian-priesthood-finding-the-doctrines-of-christ-leveled-to/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95a/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_the-christian-priesthood-finding-the-doc_1606504.jpg) > [My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest. The artificial structures they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/my-opinion-is-that-there-would-never-have-been-an-infidel-if-there/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b98/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_my-opinion-is-that-there-would-never-hav_2015068.jpg) > [In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-humor-it-covers-the-natural/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg) > [State a moral case to a plowman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/state-a-moral-case-to-a-plowman-and-a-professor-the-former-will/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e63/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_state-a-moral-case-to-a-plowman-and-a-pr_3013743.jpg) > [Sir, Your letter of the 15th is received, but Age has long since obliged me to withhold my mind from Speculations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/sir-your-letter-of-the-15th-is-received-but-age-has-long-since/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/thomas-jefferson-43_age_sir-your-letter-of-the-15th-is-received_3021525.jpg) ## Other authors on Artificial ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-two-principles-on-which-our-conduct-towards-the-indians-should-be/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/knowledge-is-power-knowled-ge-is-safety-knowle-dge-is-happiness/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nothing-but-free-argument-raillery-and-even-ridicule-will-preserve/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/#itemlist", "name": "8 Artificial Quotes By Thomas Jefferson", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... 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The good are rare enough at best. There is no reason to subdivide them by artificial lines. 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The artificial structures they have built on the purest of all moral systems, for the purpose of deriving from it pence and power, revolts those who think for themselves, and who read in that system only what is really there.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/my-opinion-is-that-there-would-never-have-been-an-infidel-if-there/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b98/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_my-opinion-is-that-there-would-never-hav_2015068.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b98/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_my-opinion-is-that-there-would-never-hav_2015068.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b98/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_my-opinion-is-that-there-would-never-hav_2015068.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest. The artificial…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all the little inconveniences and preferences which will gratify them, and deprive us of nothing worth a moment's consideration; it is the giving a pleasing and flattering turn to our expressions, which will conciliate others, and make them pleased with us as well as themselves. 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The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/state-a-moral-case-to-a-plowman-and-a-professor-the-former-will/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e63/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_state-a-moral-case-to-a-plowman-and-a-pr_3013743.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e63/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_state-a-moral-case-to-a-plowman-and-a-pr_3013743.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e63/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_state-a-moral-case-to-a-plowman-and-a-pr_3013743.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“State a moral case to a plowman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sir, Your letter of the 15th is received, but Age has long since obliged me to withhold my mind from Speculations of the difficulty of those of your letter, that their are means of artificial buoyancy by which man may be supported in the Air, the Balloon has proved, and that means of directing it may be discovered is against no law of Nature and is therefore possible as in the case of Birds, but to do this by mechanical means alone in a medium so rare and unassisting as air must have the aid of some principal not yet generally known.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/sir-your-letter-of-the-15th-is-received-but-age-has-long-since/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/thomas-jefferson-43_age_sir-your-letter-of-the-15th-is-received_3021525.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/thomas-jefferson-43_age_sir-your-letter-of-the-15th-is-received_3021525.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/thomas-jefferson-43_age_sir-your-letter-of-the-15th-is-received_3021525.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sir, Your letter of the 15th is received, but Age has long since obliged me to withhold my mind from…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/", "name": "Artificial Quotes by Thomas Jefferson", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/509/thomas-jefferson-43_aristocracy_there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-found_17987.jpg" }, "description": "8 Artificial quotes by Thomas Jefferson. Plus more from Thomas Jefferson and more Artificial sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Artificial", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Thomas Jefferson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/thomas-jefferson/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```