"Philosophy is common sense with big words."
- James Madison
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind, and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.]"
"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.]"
"Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every p..."
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.... During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have be..."
"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."
"In framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty is this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to co..."
"The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home."
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other."
"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."