He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.
If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.
I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.
Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.
Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.
Religions are all alike- founded upon fables and mythologies.
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.
The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.
Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.
No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.
No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.
There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
Of all exercises, walking is the best.
Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty.
I can scarcely contemplate a more incalculable evil than the breaking of the Union into two or more parts.