Thomas Jefferson Quotes - Page 69

• We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Facts, Bears

  George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, James Knox Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama (2017). “Inaugural Speeches from the Presidents of the United States - Complete Edition”, p.20, e-artnow sro

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• Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Men, Justice Of God

  Thomas Jefferson (1998). “Thomas Jefferson: His Words and Vision”, p.16, Peter Pauper Press, Inc.

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• Some other natural rights... [have] not yet entered into any declaration of rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Natural, Natural Rights

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• If [God] has made it a law in the nature of man to pursue his own happiness, He has left him free in the choice of place as well as mode, and we may safely call on the whole body of English jurists to produce the map on which nature has traced for each individual the geographical line which she forbids him to cross in pursuit of happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Pursuit Of Happiness, Men, Law

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• I sincerely pray that all the members of the human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Father, Liberty, May

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• Of distinction by birth or badge, [Americans] had no more idea than they had of the mode of existence in the moon or planets. They had heard only that there were such, and knew that they must be wrong.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Moon, Ideas, Inalienable Rights

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Miscellaneous: 4. Parliamentary manual; 5. The anas; 6. Miscellaneous papers”, p.270

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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.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Beautiful, Lakes, Islands

  Bernard Mayo, Thomas Jefferson (1988). “Jefferson Himself: The Personal Narrative of a Many-Sided American”, p.176, University of Virginia Press

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• To unequal privileges among members of the same society the spirit of our nation is, with one accord, adverse.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inalienable Rights, Privilege, Spirit

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin”, p.394

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• Questions of natural right are triable by their conformity with the moral sense and reason of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Inalienable Rights, Moral

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.618

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• The right to use a thing comprehends a right to the means necessary to its use, and without which it would be useless.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, Would Be, Use

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.173, Cambridge University Press

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• I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Rights, Progress

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• The idea is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Giving Up, Rights, Ideas

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.143, Cambridge University Press

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• Circumstances sometimes require, that rights the most unquestionable should be advanced with delicacy.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Delicacy, Sometimes

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”, p.117

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• All... natural rights may be abridged or modified in [their] exercise by law.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Rights, Law

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• Laws abridging the natural right of the citizen should be restrained by rigorous constructions within their narrowest limits.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Law, Citizens, Limits

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private : Published by the Order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original Manuscripts, Deposited in the Department of State”, p.176

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• No one has a right to obstruct another exercising his faculties innocently for the relief of sensibilities made a part of his nature.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Relief, Made

  Thomas Jefferson, John Dewey (2008). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.86, Courier Corporation

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• The equal rights of man and the happiness of every individual are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Rights, Individual

  Thomas Jefferson (2004). “Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness”, p.69, Modern Library

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• I believe that justice is instinct and innate, that the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing; as a wise Creator must have seen to be necessary in an animal destined to live in society.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wise, Believe, Animal

  Thomas Jefferson, John Dewey (2008). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.88, Courier Corporation

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• Men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Honesty, Mean, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (1984). “Jefferson: Writings”, p.1886, Library of America

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• Our part is to pursue with steadiness what is right, turning neither to right nor left for the intrigues or popular delusions of the day, assured that the public approbation will in the end be with us.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Ends, Intrigue, Delusion

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin. Reports and opinions while Secretary of State”, p.238

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• When we come to the moral principles on which the government is to be administered, we come to what is proper for all conditions of society. Liberty, truth, probity, honor, are declared to be the four cardinal principles of society. I believe that morality, compassion, generosity, are innate elements of the human constitution; that there exists a right independent of force.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Independent, Compassion

  Thomas Jefferson, John Dewey (2008). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.85, Courier Corporation

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• Principle will, in... most... cases open the way for us to correct conclusion.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Principles, Way, Cases

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• The human character, we believe, requires in general constant and immediate control to prevent its being biased from right by the seductions of self-love.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Character, Self

  Thomas Jefferson, Jean M. Yarbrough (1963). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.230, Hackett Publishing

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• In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Weakness, Wickedness

  Thomas Jefferson (1832). “Notes on the State of Virginia”, p.156

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• It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Opinion, Individual, Distrust

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.175, Rowman & Littlefield

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