Their meaning is not be be sought for

Day 358

"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 mean everything or nothing at pleasure."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

 

 

 

The Wisest Ever Yet

Day 355

"The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had give them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

 

 

 

Respect of the Constitution and Laws

Day 354

"If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws – the first growing out of the last. [...] A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government."

 ~Thomas Jefferson~ 

 

 

 

Happy in Believing

Day 352

I have been happy … in believing that … whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, we shall never give up our Union, the last anchor of our hope, and that alone which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators.

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Fiction/History

Day 343

"Some of the most agreeable moments of my life have been spent in reading works of imagination which have this advantage over history that the incidents of the former may be dressed in the most interesting form, while those of the latter must be confined to fact. They cannot therefore present virtue in the best and vice in the worst forms possible, as the former may."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Amusements

Day 342

 

"My greatest of all amusements, reading."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

 

 

Care of human life and happiness

Day 330

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

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

 

 

When the government decides...

Day 329

"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Happiness

Day 326

"It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness." 

~Thomas Jefferson~

Opinions

Day 323

 ~Thomas Jefferson's opinion of George Washington~

"Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short and embarrassed."

 

 

 

The spirit of resistance

Day 322

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

God is Just

Day 317

"Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." 

~Thomas Jefferson~

Impartial Justice

Day 310

"The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

The People Themselves

Day 309

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Give it up...

Day 306

"Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you… From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

The Disease of Liberty

Day 302

The disease of liberty is catching; those armies will take it in the south, carry it thence to their own country, spread there the infection of revolution and representative government, and raise its people from the prone condition of brutes to the erect altitude of man.

~Thomas Jefferson~

Majority Who Participate

 Day 301

"We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."

 ~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Chains of the Constitution

Day 299

"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." 

~Thomas Jefferson~

Swindling on a large scale

Day 297

"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." 

~Thomas Jefferson~ 1816

I consider...

Day 182

"I consider the doctrines of Jesus as delivered by himself to contain the outlines of the sublimest system of morality that has ever been taught but I hold in the most profound detestation and execration the corruptions of it which have been invented..."

~Thomas Jefferson~