Culture Quote by Thomas Jefferson

““A nation which expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, expects that which never was and never will be.””

Thomas Jefferson

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More by Thomas Jefferson

A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece of wood? He has a right to use his knife to cut his meat, a fork to hold it; may a patentee take from him the right to combine their use on the same subject? Such…

Thomas Jefferson

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make…

Thomas Jefferson

[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

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I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.

Thomas Jefferson

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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

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“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

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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

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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

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A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.

Thomas Jefferson

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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

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Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.

Thomas Jefferson

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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

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What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and pecularities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death. The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. Every view of…

Octavio Paz

Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.

Ilkin Santak

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A lot of indigenous cultures are deeply involved in working with ancestor spirits, elemental spirits, and demons. Many of these cultures feel that, if you don't deal properly with ancestor spirits, then they come back and infest the living in the form of things like depression, addictive patterns, and neuroses. We in the modern West completely deny the existence of…

Daniel Pinchbeck

In the hearing world, I'm constantly having to lip-read and trying to understand what's going on. Sign language is so beautiful. It gives you…

Rose Ayling-Ellis

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I was born and raised in Orlando, where the economy and culture has been powerfully shaped by tourism, and so I've long been interested…

Laura van den Berg

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Our times demand the declaration of the world's resources as the common heritage of all people.

Jacque Fresco

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The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages again, the lifeblood of two worlds merging to form a third country - a border culture.

Gloria E. Anzaldúa