A Loathsome Combination

"Church and State are a loathsome combination."

--Thomas Jefferson

Neither Wealth nor Splendor

"It is neither wealth nor splendor,

but tranquillity and occupation

which give happiness."

--Thomas Jefferson

Independence Day

While looking through the revised fourth edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, I found the following appropriate quote for today:

"We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

--'Rough Draft' of the American Declaration of Independence,

in J. P. Boyd et al. Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1950) vol. 1;

cf. Anonymous 10:14