In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from [the clergy]. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I consider the government of the U.S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. — 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
It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[All religious sects] dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight; and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The opinions of men should not be the object of any government. Our civil rights are no more dependent on our religious… — 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
Your sect [the Jews] by its sufferings has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in every… — 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 clergy ... believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the civil magistrate to… — 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
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
Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to… — 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
Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection… — 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
I have never conceived that having been in public life required me to belie my sentiments, or to conceal them. Opinion and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan… — 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 & Father… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry. — 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
The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
My religious reading has long been confined to the moral branch of religion, which is the same in all religions; while in… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication . — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or… — 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
![“The advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from [the clergy].” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/487/thomas-jefferson-43_christianity_the-advocate-of-religious-freedom-is-to_1177884.jpg)
![“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)
![“[All religious sects] dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight; and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversion of the duperies in which they live.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/08c/thomas-jefferson-43_announcing_all-religious-sects-dread-the-advance-of_1053268.jpg)
![“Your sect [the Jews] by its sufferings has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble and practised by all when in power. Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religions, as they…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/29c/thomas-jefferson-43_antidote_your-sect-the-jews-by-its-sufferings-has_433645.jpg)
![“The clergy ... believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ce9/thomas-jefferson-43_altars_the-clergy-believe-that-any-portion-of-p_1301853.jpg)
![“The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/895/thomas-jefferson-43_aristocracy_the-law-for-religious-freedom-has-put-do_60865.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)
