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What has been the effect of [religious] coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.

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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More quotes by Thomas Jefferson

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To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.
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The first object of human association [is] the full improvement of their condition.
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Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will collections of men by that of their majority for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men.
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It is Mortifying to suppose it possible that a people able and zealous to contend with the Enemy should be reduced to fold their Arms for want of the means of defence yet no resources that we know of, ensure us against this event.
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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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If the happiness of the mass of mankind can be secured at the expense of a little tempest now and then, or even of a little blood, it will be a precious purchase.
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I have been happy . . . in believing that . . . whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, we shall never give up our Union, the last anchor of our hope, and that alone which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators.
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We prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form and to any people whatever.
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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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He who lights his [candle] at mine receives light without darkening me.
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Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that ... of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.
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Preachers dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight.
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Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it.
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Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
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No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying as to put the right man in the right place.
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The ocean ... like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind.
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Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?
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May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.
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I never saw an instance of one or two disputants convincing the other by argument.
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I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.
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