Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at…

Quote by Thomas Jefferson

Topics: Law And Lawyers Quotes

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for...

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for...

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

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

In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty; he...

In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty; he...

The moral sense is the first excellence of well-organized man.

The moral sense is the first excellence of well-organized man.

The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for...

The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for...

I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of...

I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of...

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I...

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I...

Where a new invention promises to be useful, it ought to be tried

Where a new invention promises to be useful, it ought to be tried

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more...

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more...

Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by...

Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by...

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by...

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by...

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more...

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more...

Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be...

Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be...

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

Health is worth more than learning.

Health is worth more than learning.

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang...

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang...

You will no longer be afraid, if you stop hoping

You will no longer be afraid, if you stop hoping

At first we hope too much; later on, not enough

At first we hope too much; later on, not enough