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Men fight for freedom then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.

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
Begin
Fight
Law
Fighting
Freedom
Away
Take
Accumulate
Men
Laws

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never trust a man who won't accept that there is more than one way to spell a word Paraphrased
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Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.
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Self-interest, or rather self-love, or egoism, has been more plausibly substituted as the basis of morality.
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Ambition is a tricky little animal to tame. It is very skillful at concealing itself from its master.
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no people can be both ignorant and free.
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The idea of creating a national bank I do not concur in, because it seems now decided that Congress has not that power (although I sincerely wish they had it exclusively), and because I think there is already a vast redundancy rather than a scarcity of paper medium.
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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
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His [Calvin's] religion was demonism. If ever man worshiped a false God, he did. The being described in his five points is ... a demon of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all, than to blaspheme him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin
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I could say much about politics, our only entertainment here, but you would not care a fig about that.
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Blest is that nation whose silent course of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say.
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In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object.
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An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.
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Man is not made for the State but the State for man and it derives its just powers only from the consent of the governed.
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Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love.
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It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan.
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The opinions of men should not be the object of any government. Our civil rights are no more dependent on our religious beliefs than they are dependent upon our thoughts about geometry or physics!
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What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.... [Instead] reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?
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[A] spirit of justice and friendly accomodation...is our duty and our interest to cultivate with all nations.
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Yet the hour of emancipation is advancing ... this enterprise is for the young for those who can follow it up, and bear it through to it's consummation. It shall have all my prayers, and these are the only weapons of an old man.
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A mind always employed is always happy.
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