[Promotum] A few quotes from Thomas Jefferson

[Edmund A. Hintz]

>A government of reason is better than one of force.
>
>It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand
>by itself.
>
>Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there be
>one, He must approve the homage of Reason rather than that of blindfolded
>Fear.
>
>Nations of eternal war [expend] all their energies... in the destruction
>of the labor, property, and lives of their people.
>
>Force [is] the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.
>
>I have supposed the black man in his present state might not be [equal to
>the white man]; but it would be hazardous to affirm that equally
>cultivated for a few generations, he would not become so.
>
>It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God.
>It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
>
>Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on
>man. ...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the
>teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul,
>the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.

That's some pretty amazing stuff for the late 1700's to early 1800's, we
could use a few clones of him these days. More can be found at the
University of Virginia, which not coincidentally Jefferson founded.

<http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeffcont.htm>

Peace,

Edmund A. Hintz              **|**     "You may say I'm a dreamer,
Mac Techie, Unix Geek,      *  |  *      But I'm not the only one...
Mac/Unix Consultant        *  /|\  *     I hope someday you'll join us,
<ed@hintz.org>              */ | \*      And the world will live as one.
'78 Westy                    *****      Imagine."
                     http://www.hintz.org