| Difference of Opinion |
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In a free society with a
government based on reason, it is inevitable that there will be no uniform opinion about
important issues. Those accustomed to suppression and control by governmental authority
see this as leading only to chaos. But a government of the people requires difference of
opinion in order to discover truth and to take advantage of the opportunity that only
understanding brings.
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"Difference of
opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and that, I am sure, is the ultimate and
sincere object of us both. We both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our
Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves."
--Thomas Jefferson to P. H. Wendover, 1815. ME 14:283
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"Nothing but good can result
from an exchange of information and opinions between those whose circumstances and morals
admit no doubt of the integrity of their views." --Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge
Gerry, 1797. ME 9:385
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"Truth between candid minds
can never do harm." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1791. ME 8:212
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"To those whose views are
single and direct, it is a great comfort to have to do business with frank and honorable
minds." --Thomas Jefferson to Valentine de Foronda, 1809. ME 12:319
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"Men, according to their
constitutions and the circumstances in which they are placed, differ honestly in opinion.
Some are whigs, liberals, democrats, call them what you please. Others are tories,
serviles, aristocrats, etc." --Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 1825. ME 16:96
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"In every country where man
is free to think and to speak, differences of opinion will arise from difference of
perception, and the imperfection of reason; but these differences when permitted, as in
this happy country, to purify themselves by free discussion, are but as passing clouds
overspreading our land transiently and leaving our horizon more bright and serene."
--Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:235
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"I am myself an empiric in
natural philosophy, suffering my faith to go no further than my facts. I am pleased,
however, to see the efforts of hypothetical speculation, because by the collisions of
different hypotheses, truth may be elicited and science advanced in the end."
--Thomas Jefferson to George P. Hopkins, 1822. ME 15:394
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| Reason vs. Error |
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"We are not afraid to follow
truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to
combat it." --Thomas Jefferson to William Roscoe, 1820. ME 15:303
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"Error of opinion may be
tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural,
1801. ME 3:319
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"Error is the stuff of which
the web of life is woven, and he who lives longest and wisest is only able to weave out
the more of it." --Thomas Jefferson to F. J. de Chastellux, n.d. ME 18:414
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"There is more honor and
magnanimity in correcting, than persevering in an error." --Thomas Jefferson: Batture
at New Orleans, 1812. ME 18:123
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"We are wiser than we were,
by having an error the less in our catalogue." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison,
1788. ME 7:76
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"The best indication of
error which my experience has tested is the approbation of [those favoring a consolidated
government]. Their conclusions necessarily follow the false bias of their
principles." --Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1811. (*) ME 13:51
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"The vote of your opponents
is the most honorable mark by which the soundness of your conduct could be stamped. I
claim the same honorable testimonial. There was but a single act of my whole
administration of which [the opposing] party approved... And when I found they approved of
it, I confess I began strongly to apprehend I had done wrong, and to exclaim with the
Psalmist, 'Lord, what have I done that the wicked should praise me?'" --Thomas
Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1812. ME 13:162
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"Error is to be pitied and
pardoned: it is the weakness of human nature. But vice is a foul blemish, not pardonable
in any character." --Thomas Jefferson: Refutation of Argument, 1776. Papers, 1:283
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"Reason and free inquiry are
the only effectual agents against error... They are the natural enemies of error, and of
error only... If [free enquiry] be restrained now, the present corruptions will be
protected, and new ones encouraged." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII,
1782. ME 2:221
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"Every man has a commission
to admonish, exhort, convince another of error." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on
Religion, 1776. Papers 1:545
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"Reason and persuasion are
the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged;
and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?" --Thomas
Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:223
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"Error indeed has often
prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient
antagonist to error." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers 1:548
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"If [a] book be false in its
facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But for God's sake, let us
freely hear both sides if we choose." --Thomas Jefferson to N. G. Dufief, 1814. ME
14:127
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| Ignorance and Error |
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"Ignorance is preferable to
error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what
is wrong." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2:43
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"It is always better to have
no ideas, than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong. In my mind,
theories are more easily demolished than rebuilt." --Thomas Jefferson to James
Madison, 1788. ME 7:74
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"One... had rather have no opinion than a false one." --Thomas Jefferson: Travels in France, 1787. ME 17:234
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| Avoiding Error and Untruth |
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"One sentence of [M. de
Buffon's] book must do him immortal honor: 'I love a man who frees me from an error as
much as one who apprehends me of a truth, for in effect an error corrected is a
truth.'" --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2:72
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"By oft repeating an
untruth, men come to believe it themselves." --Thomas Jefferson to John Melish, 1813.
ME 13:212
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"It is of great importance
to set a resolution not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean,
so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once finds it much
easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies
without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of
the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good
dispositions." --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. ME 5:84, Papers 8:406
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| False Accusations |
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"If we suffer ourselves to
be frightened from our post by mere lying, surely the enemy will use that weapon; for what
one so cheap to those of whose system of politics morality makes no part?" --Thomas
Jefferson to James Sullivan, 1805. ME 11:73
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"The uniform tenor of a
man's life furnishes better evidence of what he has said or done on any particular
occasion than the word of an enemy, and of an enemy too who shows that he prefers the use
of falsehoods which suit him to truths which do not." --Thomas Jefferson to George
Clinton, 1803. ME 10:440
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"It is a proof of sincerity,
which I value above all things; as, between those who practise it, falsehood and malice
work their efforts in vain." --Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1806. ME 11:94
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| Truth Will Prevail |
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"Truth is great and will
prevail if left to herself. She is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has
nothing to fear from the conflict, unless, by human interposition, disarmed of her natural
weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted
freely to contradict them." --Thomas Jefferson: Bill for Establishing Religious
Freedom, 1779. ME 2:302, Papers 2:546
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"Time and truth will at
length correct error." --Thomas Jefferson to Constantin Francois Volney, 1805. ME
11:62
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"Truth advances and error
recedes step by step only; and to do our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must
lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the
favorable moment for helping them to another step." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas
Cooper, 1814. ME 14:200
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The Limitations of Reason and Opinion
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"I have learned to be less
confident in the conclusions of human reason, and give more credit to the honesty of
contrary opinions." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Livingston, 1824. ME 16:23
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"I know too well the
weakness and uncertainty of human reason to wonder at its different results."
--Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1804. ME 11:52
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"The known bias of the human
mind from motives of interest should lessen the confidence of each party in the justice of
their reasoning." --Thomas Jefferson to James Ross, 1786. ME 5:323
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"All know the influence of
interest on the mind of man, and how unconsciously his judgment is warped by that
influence." --Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. ME 1:121
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"The moment a person forms a
theory, his imagination sees, in every object, only the traits which favor that
theory." --Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thompson, 1787. ME 6:312
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"Experience and frequent
disappointment have taught me not to be over-confident in theories or calculations, until
actual trial of the whole combination has stamped it with approbation." --Thomas
Jefferson to George Fleming, 1815. ME 14:366
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"All theory must yield to
experience." --Thomas Jefferson to James Maury, 1815. ME 14:319
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"The union of a fruitful
imagination with a limited talent... is always incompatible with those faculties of the
mind which qualify their possessor to penetrate, to combine, and to comprehend all the
relations of objects." --Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1789. ME 7:382, Papers 15:191
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"Little is to be believed
which interests the prevailing passions, and happens beyond the limits of our own
senses." --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1808. ME 12:7
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"Reasonings... not built on
the basis of experiment... cannot be decided ultimately... More facts must be collected,
and more time flow off, before the world will be ripe for decision. In the meantime, doubt
is wisdom." --Thomas Jefferson to General Chastellux, 1785. ME 5:7, Papers 8:186
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"When I meet with a
proposition beyond finite comprehension, I abandon it as I do a weight which human
strength cannot lift, and I think ignorance, in these cases, is truly the softest pillow
on which I can lay my head." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1820. ME 15:241
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Accepting Differences of Opinion
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"[We] know too well the
texture of the human mind, and the slipperiness of human reason, to consider differences
of opinion otherwise than differences of form or feature. Integrity of views more than
their soundness, is the basis of esteem." --Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1799.
ME 10:85
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"I see too many proofs of
the imperfection of human reason to entertain wonder or intolerance at any difference of
opinion on any subject, and acquiesce in that difference as easily as on a difference of
feature or form, experience having long taught me the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices
of opinion among those who are to act together for any common object, and the expediency
of doing what good we can when we cannot do all we would wish." --Thomas Jefferson to
John Randolph, 1803. ME 10:436
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"Differing on a particular
question from those whom I knew to be of the same political principles with myself, and
with whom I generally thought and acted, a consciousness of the fallibility of the human
mind and of my own in particular, with a respect for the accumulated judgment of my
friends, has induced me to suspect erroneous impressions in myself, to suppose my own
opinion wrong, and to act with them on theirs. The want of this spirit of compromise, or
of self-distrust, proudly but falsely called independence, is what gives [some opponents]
victories which they could never obtain if these brethren could learn to respect the
opinions of their friends more than of their enemies, and prevents many able and honest
men from doing all the good they otherwise might do. These considerations... have often
quieted my own conscience in voting and acting on the judgment of others against my own...
All honest and prudent men [should] sacrifice a little of self-confidence, and... go with
their friends, although they may sometimes think they are going wrong." --Thomas
Jefferson to William Duane, 1811. ME 13:50
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Uniformity of Opinion is Not Desirable
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"Is uniformity of opinion
desirable? No more than of face and stature." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia
Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:223
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"Is uniformity attainable?
Millions of innocent men, women and children since the introduction of Christianity have
been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward
uniformity." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:223
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"It is a singular anxiety
which some people have that we should all think alike. Would the world be more beautiful
were all our faces alike? were our tempers, our talents, our tastes, our forms, our
wishes, aversions and pursuits cast exactly in the same mould? If no varieties existed in
the animal, vegetable or mineral creation, but all moved strictly uniform, catholic and
orthodox, what a world of physical and moral monotony would it be!" --Thomas
Jefferson to Charles Thomson, 1817. FE 10:76
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"Suppose the State should
take into head that there should be an uniformity of countenance. Men would be obliged to
put an artificial bump or swelling here, a patch there, etc. But this would be merely
hypocritical, or if the alternative was given of wearing a mask, ninety-nine
one-hundredths must immediately mask. Would this add to the beauty of nature? Why
otherwise in opinions?" --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers 1:549
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"The varieties in the
structure and action of the human mind, as in those of the body, are the work of our
Creator against which it cannot be a religious duty to erect the standard of
uniformity." --Thomas Jefferson to James Fishback, 1809. ME 12:315
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"As the Creator has made no
two faces alike, so no two minds, and probably no two creeds." --Thomas Jefferson to
Timothy Pickering, 1821. ME 15:324
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"Nature has, in truth,
produced units only through all her works. Classes, orders, genera, species, are not of
her work. Her creation is of individuals." --Thomas Jefferson to John Manners, 1814.
ME 14:97
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"I tolerate with the utmost
latitude the right of others to differ from me in opinion without imputing to them
criminality." --Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1804. ME 11:52
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"That there should be a
contrariety of opinions respecting the public agents and their measures,... is ever to be
expected among free men." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Leesburg Republicans, 1809. ME
16:352
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"Every difference of opinion
is not a difference of principle." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801. ME 3:319
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"Others... may condemn what
they would not if seen in all its parts." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural Address,
1801. ME 3:323
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"When a man whose life has
been marked by its candor, has given a latter opinion contrary to a former one, it is
probably the result of further inquiry, reflection and conviction." --Thomas
Jefferson to Peregrine Fitzhugh, 1797. ME 9:379
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"With the same honest views,
the most honest men often form different conclusions." --Thomas Jefferson to Robert
Livingston, 1801. ME 10:284
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Critical Judgments
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"There is no act, however
virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive." --Thomas Jefferson to
Edward Dowse, 1803. ME 10:376
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"If no action is to be
deemed virtuous for which malice can imagine a sinister motive, then there never was a
virtuous action." --Thomas Jefferson to Martin Van Buren, 1824. ME 16:55
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"Malice will always find bad
motives for good actions. Shall we therefore never do good?" --Thomas Jefferson to
James Madison, 1810. ME 12:391
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"Every honest man will
suppose honest acts to flow from honest principles, and the rogues may rail without
intermission." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 1801. ME 10:304
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"An enemy generally says and
believes what he wishes." --Thomas Jefferson to C. W. F. Dumas, 1788. ME 6:442,
Papers 12:695
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"There is nothing against
which human ingenuity will not be able to find something to say." --Thomas Jefferson
to Gideon Granger, 1801. ME 10:260
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"Resort is had to ridicule
only when reason is against us." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1813. ME 13:233
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"In the heat of debate, men
are generally disposed to contradict every authority urged by their opponents."
--Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:448, Papers 15:366
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"What is it men cannot be
made to believe!" --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Henry Lee, 1786. ME 5:293
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"The bulk of mankind are
schoolboys through life." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Coinage, 1784? ME 1:240
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Opinion is not Subject to Legal Restriction
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"The opinions of men are not
the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction." --Thomas Jefferson: Bill
for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1779. Papers 2:546
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"Almighty God has created
the mind free and manifested His supreme will that free it shall remain by making it
altogether insusceptible of restraint... All attempts to influence it by temporal
punishments or burthens or by civil incapacitations tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy
and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion who,
being Lord of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was
in His Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone."
--Thomas Jefferson: Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1779. ME 2:300, Papers 2:545
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| The Need to Compromise |
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"A government held together
by the bands of reason only, requires much compromise of opinion." --Thomas Jefferson
to Edward Livingston, 1824. ME 16:25
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"On no question can a
perfect unanimity be hoped." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Inhabitants of Boston,
1808. ME 16:315
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"Things even salutary should
not be crammed down the throats of dissenting brethren, especially when they may be put
into a form to be willingly swallowed." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Livingston,
1824. ME 16:25
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"I respect the right of free
opinion too much to urge an uneasy pressure of [my own] opinion on [others]. Time and
advancing science will ripen us all in its course and reconcile all to wholesome and
necessary changes." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1824. FE 10:320
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"I see the necessity of
sacrificing our opinions sometimes to the opinions of others for the sake of
harmony." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Eppes, 1790. FE 5:194
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"It is for the happiness of
those united in society to harmonize as much as possible in matters which they must of
necessity transact together." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VIII, 1782. ME
2:120
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"People can never agree
without some sacrifices." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1789. ME 7:334, Papers
15:98
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"A great deal of indulgence
is necessary to strengthen habits of harmony and fraternity." --Thomas Jefferson to
Edward Livingston, 1824. ME 16:25
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"I will sacrifice everything
but principle to procure [harmony]." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Adams, 1801. ME
10:251
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"Every man cannot have his
way in all things. If his opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing
that of others preponderate at other times. Without this mutual disposition we are
disjointed individuals, but not a society." --Thomas Jefferson to John Dickinson,
1801. FE 8:76
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"In general, I think it
necessary to give as well as take in a government like ours." --Thomas Jefferson to
George Mason, 1790. ME 8:36
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"He alone who walks strict
and upright, and who, in matters of opinion, will be contented that others should be as
free as himself and acquiesce when his opinion is freely overruled, will attain his object
in the end." --Thomas Jefferson to Gideon Granger, 1804. ME 11:25
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"[A] reasonable
disposition,... sensible that advantages are not all to be on one side, yielding what is
just and liberal, is the more certain of obtaining liberality and justice." --Thomas
Jefferson to Robert Walsh, 1818. ME 15:176
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| A Good Presentation |
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"I have found prejudices
[are] frequently produced against propositions handed to the world without explanation or
support." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1783. ME 4:444, Papers 6:277
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"Give me leave to recommend
strongly to you a methodical and strict arrangement of your matter [in answer to your
adversary's objections]. The best arguments are lost without this." --Thomas
Jefferson to William Short, 1780. Papers 15:586
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"A good cause is often
injured more by ill-timed efforts of its friends than by the arguments of its enemies.
Persuasion, perseverance and patience are the best advocates on questions depending on the
will of others." --Thomas Jefferson to James Heaton, 1826.
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"I have most carefully
avoided every public act or manifestation on that subject [i.e., the opposition to
slavery]. Should an occasion ever occur in which I can interpose with decisive effect, I
shall certainly know and do my duty with promptitude and zeal. But in the meantime it
would only be disarming myself of influence to be taking small means." --Thomas
Jefferson to George Logan, 1805. FE 10:141
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"An indifferent measure
carried through with perseverance is better than a good one taken up only at
intervals." --Thomas Jefferson to Timothy Pickering, 1780. Papers 3:608
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"Preserving the ends, I
should be flexible and conciliatory as to the means." --Thomas Jefferson to Archibald
Stuart, 1791. ME 8:277
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"We ought not to schismatize
on either men or measures. Principles alone can justify that." --Thomas Jefferson to
William Duane, 1811. ME 13:29
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"If the game runs sometimes
against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an
opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost. For this is a game where
principles are the stake." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798. ME 10:47
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"Postpone to the great
object of Liberty every smaller motive and passion." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel
Huntington, 1780. FE 2:298, Papers 3:289
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| Maintaining Union |
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"[Without] union of action
and effort in all its parts... no nation can be happy or safe." --Thomas Jefferson to
James Sullivan, 1807. ME 11:236
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"Union of opinion... gives
to a nation the blessing of harmony and the benefit of all its strength." --Thomas
Jefferson: 2nd Inaugural, 1805. ME 3:383
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"To the principles of union
I sacrifice all minor differences of opinion. These, like differences of face, are a law
of our nature and should be viewed with the same tolerance." --Thomas Jefferson to
William Duane, 1811. ME 13:67
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"If to rid ourselves of the
present rule of Massachusetts and Connecticut, we break the Union, will the evil stop
there? Suppose the New England States alone cut off, will our natures be changed? Are we
not men still to the south of that, and with all the passions of men. Immediately we shall
see a Pennsylvania and a Virginia party arise in the residuary confederacy, and the public
mind will be distracted with the same party spirit. What a game, too, will the one party
have in their hands by eternally threatening the other that unless they do so and so, they
will join their Northern neighbors. If we reduce our Union to Virginia and North Carolina,
immediately the conflict will be established between the representatives of these two
States, and they will end by breaking into their simple units. Seeing, therefore, that an
association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which never yet
existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry,
seeing that we must have somebody to quarrel with, I had rather keep our New England
associates for that purpose than to see our bickerings transferred to others... A little
patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolved, and the
people recovering their true sight, restoring their government to its true
principles." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798. ME 10:45
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"It might have been made the
interest of the western States to remain united with us, by managing their interests
honestly and for their own good. But the moment we sacrifice their interests to our own,
they will see it better to govern themselves." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison,
1786. ME 6:10
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| Avoiding Intolerance |
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"That differences of opinion
should arise among men on politics, on religion and on every other topic of human inquiry,
and that these should be freely expressed in a country where all our faculties are free,
is to be expected. But these valuable privileges are much perverted when permitted to
disturb the harmony of social intercourse, and to lessen the tolerance of opinion."
--Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Citizens of Washington, 1809. ME 16:348
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"The history of Poland...
gives a lesson which all our countrymen should study: the example of a country erased from
the map of the world by the dissensions of its own citizens." --Thomas Jefferson to
William Duane, 1811. ME 13:66
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"It is... a matter of
principle with me to avoid disturbing the tranquillity of others by the expression of any
opinion on the innocent questions on which we schismatize." --Thomas Jefferson to
James Fishback, 1809. ME 12:315
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"[We] have formerly seen
warm debates and high political passions. But gentlemen of different politics would then
speak to each other, and separate the business of the Senate from that of society. It is
not so now. Men who have been intimate all their lives, cross the streets to avoid
meeting, and turn their heads another way, lest they should be obliged to touch their
hats. This may do for young men with whom passion is enjoyment. But it is afflicting to
peaceable minds. Tranquility is the old man's milk." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward
Rutledge, 1797. ME 9:411
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"Public assemblies, where
every one is free to speak and to act, are the most powerful looseners of the bands of
private friendship." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1784. ME 4:217, Papers
7:106
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"I have never thought that a
difference in political, any more than in religious opinions, should disturb the friendly
intercourse of society. There are so many other topics on which friends may converse and
be happy, that it is wonderful they would select, of preference, the only one on which
they cannot agree." --Thomas Jefferson to David Campbell, 1810. ME 12:356
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"Political conversations I
really dislike, and therefore avoid where I can without affectation. But when urged by
others, I have never conceived that having been in public life requires me to belie my
sentiments, or even to conceal them. When I am led by conversation to express them, I do
it with the same independence here which I have practiced everywhere, and which is
inseparable from my nature." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. ME 9:340
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"As far as my good will may
go (for I can no longer act), I shall adhere to my government, Executive and Legislative,
and as long as they are republican, I shall go with their measures whether I think them
right or wrong; because I know they are honest and are wiser and better informed than I
am." --Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1811. ME 13:52
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"So confident am I in the
intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that
what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done." --Thomas Jefferson to
James Madison, 1813. ME 13:268
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| Avoiding Political Dispute |
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"Never [enter] into dispute
or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing
the other by argument. I have seen many on their getting warm, becoming rude and shooting
one another. Conviction is the effect of our own dispassionate reasoning, either in
solitude or weighing within ourselves dispassionately what we hear from others, standing
uncommitted in argument ourselves... In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever
result from any attempt to set... fiery zealots to rights either in fact or principle.
They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will
act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense
to dispute the road with such an animal." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson
Randolph, 1808. ME 12:199
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"Nothing gives one person so
great advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all
circumstances." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Eppes, 1816. ME 19:242
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"I fear [political
difference] is inseparable from the different constitutions of the human mind and that
degree of freedom which permits unrestrained expression. Political dissention is doubtless
a less evil than the lethargy of despotism, but still it is a great evil, and it would be
as worthy the efforts of the patriot as of the philosopher, to exclude its influence, if
possible, from social life. The good are rare enough at best. There is no reason to
subdivide them by artificial lines. But whether we shall ever be able so far to perfect
the principles of society, as that political opinions shall, in its intercourse, be as
inoffensive as those of philosophy, mechanics, or any other, may be well doubted."
--Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Pinckney, 1797. ME 9:389
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"Avoid the subject of
politics in society, and generally indeed... shun disputation on every subject, which
never did convince an antagonist, and too often alienates a friend, besides being always
an uneasy thing to a good-humored society." --Thomas Jefferson to Charles L.
Bankhead, 1808. ME 18:253
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"I have never suffered
political opinion to enter into the estimate of my private friendships; nor did I ever
abdicate the society of a friend on that account till he had first withdrawn from mine.
Many have left me on that account, but with many I still preserve affectionate
intercourse, only avoiding to speak on politics, as with a Quaker or Catholic I would
avoid speaking on religion." --Thomas Jefferson to John F. Mercer, 1804. ME 11:53
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"I wish to avoid all
collisions of opinion with all mankind." --Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816.
ME 14:384
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"With a man possessing so
many other estimable qualities, why should we be dissocialized by mere difference of
opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, or anything else?" --Thomas
Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 1811. ME 13:116
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"I have received many
letters stating to me in the spirit of prophecy, caricatures which the writers, it seems,
know are to be the principles of my administration. To these no answer has been given,
because the prejudiced spirit in which they have been written proved the writers not in a
state of mind to yield to truth or reason." --Thomas Jefferson to William Jackson,
1801. ME 10:205
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"Remember that we often
repent of what we have said, but never, never of that which we have not." --Thomas
Jefferson to Gideon Granger, 1814. ME 14:118
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| ME, FE = Memorial Edition, Ford Edition. |
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