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One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.

Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson
Age: 83 †
Born: 1743
Born: April 2
Died: 1826
Died: July 4
3Rd U.S. President
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President Jefferson
T. Jefferson
Never
Occasions
Love
Gun
Loves
Arms
Strength
Rifles
Though
Amendments
Peace
Occasion
Hope
Possess

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Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power.
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The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.
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Ignorance is a poor tool in a battle of wits.
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Above all things, and at all times, practice yourself in good humor.
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Never spend your money before you have earned it.
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The man who would choose security over freedom deserves neither.
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By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
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There is no justification for taking away individuals' freedom in the guise of public safety.
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Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment.
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Hemp is one of the greatest, most important substances of our nation
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If [God] has made it a law in the nature of man to pursue his own happiness, He has left him free in the choice of place as well as mode, and we may safely call on the whole body of English jurists to produce the map on which nature has traced for each individual the geographical line which she forbids him to cross in pursuit of happiness.
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Trial by jury is part of the bright constellation which leads to peace, liberty and safety.
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Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.
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The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one. Nor will any degree of power in the hands of government prevent insurrections.
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I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the nation, where it is found necessary, than to assume it by a construction which would make our powers boundless.
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We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
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I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man.
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I do not like [in the new Federal Constitution] the omission of a Bill of Rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for... protection against standing armies
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I am entirely persuaded that the agitations of the public mind advance its powers, and that at every vibration between the points of liberty and despotism, something will be gained for the former. As men become better informed, their rulers must respect them the more.
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Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.
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