Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.

I had laid it down as a law for my conduct while in office, and hitherto scrupulously observed, to accept of no present beyond a book, a pamphlet, or other curiosity of minor value; as...

Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything...

One single object…[will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.

The truth is, that the greatest enemies of the doctrine of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them to the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and...

Taste cannot be controlled by law

The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.

I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.

Everything yields to diligence

I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves ; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy...

Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both. We are destined to be a barrier against the returns of...

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.

Altho’ I rarely waste time in reading on theological subjects, as mangled by our Pseudo-Christians, yet I can readily suppose Basanistos may be amusing. Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible...

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.

The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism.

We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.

Every generation needs a new revolution.

The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.

A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when...

Religions are all alike — founded on fables and mythologies

The art of life is the art of avoiding pain; and he is the best pilot, who steers clearest of the rocks and shoals with which it is beset.

(Academics) commit their pupils to the theatre of the world, with just taste enough of learning to be alienated from industrial pursuits, and not enough to do service in the ranks of science

The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.

We rarely repent of having eaten too little.

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade but in the sunshine of life; & thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine. I will recur for proof...

Even in Europe a change has sensibly taken place in the mind of man. Science has liberated the ideas of those who read and reflect, and the American example has kindled feelings of right in...

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of...

History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.

[n regard to Jesus believing himself inspired]This belief carried no more personal imputation than the belief of Socrates that he was under the care and admonition of a guardian demon. And how many of our...

No defender of slavery, I concede that it has its benevolent aspects in lifting the Negro from savagery and helping prepare him for that eventual freedom which is surely written in the Book of Fate

A lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity, that...

Information is the currency of democracy.

The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

I served with General Washington in the Legislature of Virginia… and… with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point.

Good humor is one of the preservatives of our peace and tranquility

Believing that happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their endurance, and...

It is neither wealth nor splendor? but tranquillity and occupation which givehappiness.

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.

…never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting...

Everything is useful which contributes to fix in the principles and practices of virtue.

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it...

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.

If God is just, I tremble for my country.

Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.

A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe, for felicity.

No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.