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.

No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.

If the children are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That...

There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents; for with these it would belong to the first class

The freedom of the press is on of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by a despotic government

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

If it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a...

All that is necessary for a student is access to a library.

Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance,...

I cannot live without books.

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that… it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important.

The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.

Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms…disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage...

Common sense is the foundation of all authorities, of the laws themselves, and of their construction.

France is every man’s second country

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

While wading through the whimsies, the puerilities, and unintelligible jargon of this work [Plato’s Republic], I laid it down often to ask myself how it could have been that the world should have so long...

To preserve the freedom of the human mind then and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will, and...

Politics, like religion, hold up torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error

For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead…

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations…entangling alliances with none

I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find...

France.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.

I am savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds, and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures of this gay capital [Paris].

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and to talk by the hour

Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health.

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of...

Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.

Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.

Our constitution is a peace establishment it is not calculated for war. War would endanger its existence.