Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I trust there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian. — 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 am not afraid of the priests. They have tried upon me all their various batteries, of pious whining, hypocritical canting, lying… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every Christian sect gives a great handle to Atheism by their general dogma that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
... the common law existed while the Anglo-Saxons were yet pagans, at a time when they had never yet heard the name… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the General Government. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In reviewing the history of the times through which we have passed, no portion of it gives greater satisfaction or reflection, than… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust… — 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
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
The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ leveled to every understanding, and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticism… — 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
Of publishing a book on religion, my dear sir, I never had an idea. I should as soon think of writing for… — 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
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
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
The fumes of the most disordered imaginations were recorded in their religious code, as special communications of the Deity; and as it… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“...it is not to be understood that I am with him [Jesus] in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist, he takes… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them;… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Civil officials have no business meddling in private religious affairs. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Christian god is a being of terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. — 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
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
I can never join Calvin in addressing his god. He was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his… — 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 Image
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 Image
[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 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
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
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 Image
![“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/quotes/img-quotes/d1f/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_i-have-recently-been-examining-all-the-k_384136.jpg)
![“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes [Letter to von Humboldt, 1813].” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cba/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_history-i-believe-furnishes-no-example-o_491860.jpg)
![“...it is not to be understood that I am with him [Jesus] in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist, he takes the side of spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentance toward forgiveness of sin. I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it... Among the sayings & discourses imputed to…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/06a/thomas-jefferson-43_absurdity_it-is-not-to-be-understood-that-i-am-wit_1394038.jpg)
![“[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/401/thomas-jefferson-43_branches_states-and-the-federal-government-are-co_2619.jpg)
![“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00c/thomas-jefferson-43_change_single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-t_5515.jpg)
![“Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of [any difficult situation] in the easiest manner possible...” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ebe/thomas-jefferson-43_difficult_though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one_9828.jpg)
