Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It would not be for the public good to have [a majority in Congress of one party] greater [than] two to one.
Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.
An hereditary aristocracy... will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world.
I value peace, and I should unwillingly see any event take place which would render war a necessary resource.
Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival.
Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry.
preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people.
Of all the cankers of human happiness none corrodes with so silent, yet so baneful an influence, as indolence.
Difficulties indeed sometimes arise; but common sense and honest intentions will generally steer through them.
I have ever deemed it more honorable and more profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one.
I never before knew the full value of trees. Under them I breakfast, dine, write, read and receive my company.
To unequal privileges among members of the same society the spirit of our nation is, with one accord, adverse.
No government should be without critics. If its intentions are good then it has nothing to fear from criticism.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
[A]lthough a republican government is slow to move, yet when once in motion, its momentum becomes irresistible.
The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.
The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty ... students perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens.
I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.
An acre of the best ground for hemp, is to be selected and sewn in hemp and be kept for a permanent hemp patch.
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.
If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption.
Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence.
When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground.
Without health there is no happiness. An attention to health, then, should take the place of every other object.
It is my disposition to maintain peace until its condition shall be made less tolerable than that of war itself.
Agreeable society is the first essential in constituting the happiness and of course the value of our existence.
If your letters are as long as the bible, they will appear short to me. Only let them be brim full of affection.
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.
Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power.
I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the most corrupt government on the earth.
the qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. they are the result of habit and long training.
The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.
We are now vibrating between too much and too little government, and the pendulum will rest finally in the middle.
Travelling. ... when men of sober age travel, they gather knowlege which they may apply usefully for their country
No knowledge can be more satisfactory to a man than that of his own frame, its parts, their functions and actions.
Congress has scarcely any thing to employ them, and complain that the place [Washington, D.C.] is remarkably dull.
It is as useless to argue with those who have renounced the use of reason as to administer medication to the dead.
Honesty is the first chapter in the Book of wisdom. Let it be our endeavor to merit the character of a just nation.
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
In a government bottomed on the will of all, the... liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all.