Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I set out on this ground which I suppose to be self-evident, that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living. .… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Sir, Your letter of the 15th is received, but Age has long since obliged me to withhold my mind from Speculations of… — 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