We have already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I have ever deemed it more honorable and more profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one. — 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
We abhor the follies of war, and are not untried in its distresses and calamities. Unmeddling with the affairs of other nations,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I could think of no worse example for nations abroad, who for the first time were trying to put free electoral procedures… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Sir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A single good government becomes... a blessing to the whole earth, its welcome to the oppressed restraining within certain limits the measure… — 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
I am sorry they began their deliberations by so abominable a precedent as that of tying up the tongues of their members.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Were I to be the founder of a new sect, I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I join cordially in admiring and revering the Constitution of the United States, the result of the collected wisdom of our country.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Still we did not expect to be without rubs and difficulties; and we have had them. First the detention of Western posts:… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Even in Europe a change has sensibly taken place in the mind of man. Science has liberated the ideas of those who… — 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
