"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."
"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none."
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."
"Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?"