Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Freedom And Liberty
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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 than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
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When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.
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Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
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I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
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It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
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Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
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What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
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I have sworn upon the altar of god.
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A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
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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.
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To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.
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The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.
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The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of the press.
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Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.
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Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.
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I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
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Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
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It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
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The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
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We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
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Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
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It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
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I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
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The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
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I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
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The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
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Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
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Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.
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The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
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The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
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