Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Liberty belongs only to those who have the gift of reason.

Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when belief withers.

The public use of man's reason must always be free, and it alone can cause enlightenment.

This then is the age of reason.

Whatever else we may say of our own age, for good or evil, nobody is likely to call it an Age of Reason.

My ancestors were all Freethinkers, formerly Catholics. It was science and Darwin, in particular, that made them decide, as educated people, which they were, that the priest, nice as he was, didn't know what he was talking about.

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. 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 blindfolded fear.

Reason transformed into prejudice is the worst form of prejudice, because reason is the only instrument for liberation from prejudice.

Far from being demeaning to human spiritual values, scientific rationalism is the crowning glory of the human spirit.

The most important function of the university in an age of reason is to protect reason from itself.

He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

There will always be some people who think for themselves, even among the self-appointed guardians of the great mass who, after having thrown off the yoke of immaturity themselves, will spread about them the spirit of a reasonable estimate of their own value and of the need for every man to think for himself.

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

Faith is a poison that paralyzes the mind. In all the days of your life, seek knowledge!

We co9me from the tradition of the European Enlightenment, the Age of Reason. So we find it extremely hard to face down the emotional force of right-wing populism using rational arguments.

Atheism is a very positive affirmation of man's ability to think for himself, to do for himself, to find answers to his own problems.

We have fought long and hard to escape from medieval superstition. I, for one, do not wish to go back.

It is only by dispelling the clouds and phantoms of religion that we shall discover truth, reason and morality.

I don't mean to say that I'm about to state my credo here on this page, but merely to affirm, sincerely for the first time in my life, my belief in man as an individual and independent entity. Certainly not independence in the everyday sense of the word, but pertaining to a freedom and mobility of thought that few people are able - or even have the courage - to achieve.

I have no reverence for any book that teaches a doctrine contrary to my reason; no reverence for any book that teaches a doctrine contrary to my heart; and, no matter how old it is, no matter how many have believed it, no matter how many have died on account of it, no matter how many live for it, I have no reverence for that book, and I am glad of it.

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know!

The proper method for hastening the decay of error, is not, by brute force, or by regulation which is one of the classes of force, to endeavour to reduce men to intellectual uniformity; but on the contrary by teaching every man to think for himself.

Man needs knowledge in order to survive, and only reason can achieve it; men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason, can exist only as parasites on the thinking of others.