“ The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ”
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1785). copy citation
| Author | Thomas Jefferson |
|---|---|
| Source | Notes on the State of Virginia |
| Topic | speech freedom religion government |
| Date | 1785 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/jefferson/jefferson.html |
Context
“The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man.”
source
Meaning and analysis
