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Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous. . . .

Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson
Age: 83 †
Born: 1743
Born: April 2
Died: 1826
Died: July 4
3Rd U.S. President
Archaeologist
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Diplomat
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Lawyer
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President Jefferson
T. Jefferson
Absurdities
Remaining
Monstrous
Absurdity
Guard
Religion
Rudders
Reason
Gullibility
Men
Surrendering

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Those who wish to be ignorant and free, believe in something that never was and never shall be.
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Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature.
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[I]n Great-Britain it is said that their constitution relies on the house of commons for honesty, and the lords for wisdom whichwould be a rational reliance if honesty were to be bought with money, and if wisdom were hereditary.
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I join you therefore in branding as cowardly the idea that the human mind is incapable of further advances.
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I wish I was a despot that I might save the noble, the beautiful trees that are daily falling sacrifice to the cupidity of their owners, or the necessity of the poor. The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder.
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History has informed us that bodies of men as well as individuals are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny.
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The mass of our citizens may be divided into two classes -- the laboring and the learned. The laboring will need the first grade of education to qualify them for their pursuits and duties the learned will need it as a foundation for further acquirements.
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Honesty is the first chapter in the Book of wisdom. Let it be our endeavor to merit the character of a just nation.
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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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When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles every other correction is either useless or a new evil.
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Men fight for freedom then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.
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History teaches the young the virtues of freedom. By apprising them of the past it will enable them to judge the future.
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The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.
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Shake hands with Pain, give greeting unto Grief, Those angels in disguise, and thy glad soul From height to height, from star to shining star, Shall climb and claim blest immortality.
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We do not mean to count or weigh our contributions by any standard other than that of our abilities.
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If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?
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Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
Thomas Jefferson
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It is as useless to argue with those who have renounced the use of reason as to administer medication to the dead.
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I believe the states can best govern our home concerns, and the general government our foreign ones.
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Do not neglect your music. It will be a companion which will sweeten many hours of life to you.
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