Quotes · Skopia

187 quotes

SortEditorial Year Length

Place·Virginia✕clear

A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.

Thomas Jefferson

1787

★ 9.1

Political literature

Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.

Thomas Jefferson

Notes on the State of Virginia · 1785

★ 7.8

Political literature

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.

Bill of Rights · 1789

★ 7.6

Essay · Political literature

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 7.6

Essay · Political literature

Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.

Federalist 10 · 1787

★ 7.5

Letter · Political writing

The boisterous sea of liberty indeed is never without a wave.

Thomas Jefferson

1820

★ 7.3

Poem · Newspaper

All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.

Edgar Allan Poe

1849

★ 7.2

Political literature

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Bill of Rights · 1789

★ 7.2

Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party, generally.

George Washington

1796

★ 7.1

The due administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government.

George Washington

1789

★ 7.1

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Thomas Jefferson

1787

★ 7.1

Essay · Political literature

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.

Federalist 10 · 1787

★ 7.0

Essay · Political literature

It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 7.0

Essay · Political literature

Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.

Federalist 51 · 1788

★ 7.0

Essay · Political literature

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

Federalist 47 · 1788

★ 7.0

Political literature

The American continents... Are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.

1823 State of the Union · 1823

★ 7.0

Speech · Funeral oration

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.

1799

★ 6.9

Poem · Newspaper

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

Edgar Allan Poe

New York Evening Mirror · 1845

★ 6.9

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather-bed.

Thomas Jefferson

1790

★ 6.3

What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment... Inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.

Thomas Jefferson

1786

★ 6.2

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