The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them. — 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
History has informed us that bodies of men as well as individuals are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The spirit of 1776 is not dead. It had only been slumbering. The body of the American people is substantially republican. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The rights [to religious freedom] are of the natural rights of mankind, and ... if any act shall be ... passed to… — 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
... 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
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
I do love this people [the French] with all my heart, and think that with a better religion and a better form… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The result of your fifty or sixty years of religious reading in the four words: 'Be just and good,' is that in… — 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
We have solved, by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have remover their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the… — 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
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
“If, therefore, from the settlement of the Saxons, to the introduction of Christianity among them, that system of religion could not be… — 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
“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
To unequal privileges among members of the same society the spirit of our nation is, with one accord, adverse. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart. — 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
![“The rights [to religious freedom] are of the natural rights of mankind, and ... if any act shall be ... passed to repeal [an act granting those rights] or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b59/thomas-jefferson-43_freedom_the-rights-to-religious-freedom-are-of-t_2762239.jpg)
![“I do love this people [the French] with all my heart, and think that with a better religion and a better form of government and their present governors their condition and country would be most enviable.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d2/thomas-jefferson-43_conditions_i-do-love-this-people-the-french-with-al_1131931.jpg)
![“The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of it's benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e7/thomas-jefferson-43_benevolent_the-christian-religion-when-divested-of_1371700.jpg)
![“[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate for long years to come. Their steady habits [will] exclude the advances of information, and they [will] seem exactly where they [have always been]. And there [the]…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/612/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_if-the-nature-of-government-were-a-subor_2243937.jpg)
![“I had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to the height you describe. This must be owing to the growth of Presbyterianism. The blasphemy of the five points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6e/thomas-jefferson-43_blasphemy_i-had-no-idea-however-that-in-pennsylvan_2564008.jpg)
