Reason obeys itself, and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

There are two distinct classes of men - those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.

If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves.

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.

The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.

It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.

I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

You cannot undermine police authority and then complain about rising crime.

The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.