“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” ![]() “When angry count to ten before you speak. “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” “Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.” “In matters of style, swim with the current in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” Act! Action will delineate and define you.” “Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. “In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to liberty.” On life “I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.” “The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.” “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.” “If God is just, I tremble for my country.” “It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no God.” The several sects perform the office of Censor - over each other.” “Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. “Question with boldness even the existence of a God because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” “Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.” On religion “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.” “Where the press is free and every man is able to read, all is safe.” “To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.” ![]() For his myriad contributions to his country, Jefferson is regarded as one of the greatest American Presidents by historians and scholars. He authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom which served as a pre-cursor to the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause - which together stated that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” - of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Though he was a theist himself, Jefferson was a detractor of organised religion and was wary of the influence it could have on the Government. The birth of American secularism, in particular, can be largely attributed to Jefferson’s efforts. His diverse education enabled him to eschew popular but erroneous beliefs in favour of the rational thinking that is required while formulating State legislation. Jefferson was a well-learned man who commanded a mastery over disciplines ranging from mathematics and mechanics to religion and philosophy.
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