The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.
Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.
I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.
Power is not alluring to pure minds.
To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.
Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.
We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.
It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.
I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.
The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.
The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.
The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.
Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.
Taste cannot be controlled by law.