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. [Letter objecting to the use of government land for churches, 1803]
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.
And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.