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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, and provision should be made to prevent its ascendency.

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
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Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion.
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To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others ascribing to himself every human excellence & believing he never claimed any other.
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It is while we are young that the habit of industry is formed. If not then, it never is afterwards. The fortune of our lives therefore depends on employing well the short period of our youth.
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Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.
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Where a new invention promises to be useful, it ought to be tried.
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A government is republican in proportion as every member composing it has his equal voice in the direction of its concerns, not indeed in person, which would be impracticable beyond the limits of a city or small township, but by representatives chosen by himself and responsible to him at short periods.
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Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree.
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When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither.
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The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind.
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There is no King, who, with sufficient force, is not always ready to make himself absolute.
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Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.
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Self-love . . . is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others.
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For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead.
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A lawyer without books would be like a workman without tools.
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If your letters are as long as the bible, they will appear short to me. Only let them be brim full of affection.
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Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
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My affections were first for my own country, then, generally, for all mankind
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Tobacco is a culture productive of infinite wretchedness.
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Men possessing minds of the first order and who have had opportunities of being known and of acquiring the general confidence do not abound in any country beyond the wants of the country.
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