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Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction.

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
Abundance
Material
Destruction
Materials
Wealth
Character
Without
Way
Surest

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Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves... down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony.
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[Emigrants] will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth or, if able to throw off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty.
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I hope the necessity will at length be seen of establishing institutions, here as in Europe, where every branch of science, useful at this day, may be taught in it's highest degrees.
Thomas Jefferson
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I endeavor to keep their attention fixed on the main objects of all science, the freedom & happiness of man.
Thomas Jefferson
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If we did a good act merely from love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? ...Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God.
Thomas Jefferson
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By... [selecting] the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated.
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To constrain the brute force of the people, the European governments deem it necessary to keep them down by hard labor, poverty and ignorance, and to take from them, as from bees, so much of their earnings, as that unremitting labor shall be necessary to obtain a sufficient surplus to sustain a scanty and miserable life.
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this interesting subject, which, if the condition of man is to be progressively ameliorated, as we fondly hope and believe, is to be the chief instrument in effecting it.
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It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.
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The introduction of so powerful an agent as steam [to a carriage on wheels] will make a great change in the situation of man.
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Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.
Thomas Jefferson
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All authority belongs to the people.
Thomas Jefferson
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Action will delineate and define you.
Thomas Jefferson
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The patriot, like the Christian, must learn to bear revilings and persecutions as a part of his duty and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command. But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for its exercise are repeated.
Thomas Jefferson
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Force cannot give right.
Thomas Jefferson
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You see I am an enthusiast on the subject of the arts.
Thomas Jefferson
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All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
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Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion.
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In a government bottomed on the will of all, the... liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all.
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History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
Thomas Jefferson