“All, all dead: and ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not, and who know not us.”

“There is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.”

“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.”

“As Thomas Jefferson proclaimed, “In matters of fashion, swim with the current. In matters of conscience, stand like a rock.”

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”

“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”

“We confide in our strength, without boasting of it, we respect that of others, without fearing it.”

“History, by apprising [the people] of the past, will enable them to judge of the future.” 

“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.”

“While the art of printing is left to us science can never be retrograde; what is once acquired of real knowledge can never be lost.”

“I think one travels more usefully when they travel alone, because they reflect more."

“...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 one another. ... When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ... There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met with among us. The first is of young students, just entered the threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet filled up with the details & modifications which a further progress would bring to their knoledge. The other consists of the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. ... Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.”

“If you want something you’ve never had, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done before.”

“Without books, I would certainly die.”

“How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!”