"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross; restore to Him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of His disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of His doctrines, led me to try to sift them apart."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Presidents of the United StatesUnitarians from the United StatesFounding Fathers of the United States of AmericaUnited States Secretaries of StatePoliticians from Virginia
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter to William Short (13 April 1820)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Thomas Jefferson
1743 – 1826
US-amerikanischer Politiker und der dritte Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten (1801–1809).
489 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Thomas Jefferson →
Related Quotes
"...the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence …"
"It is agreed by those who have seriously considered the subject, that no individual has, of natural right, a separate…"
"Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry."
"The law books abound with similar instances of the care the judges take of the public integrity, Laws, moreover, abri…"
"Widespread poverty and concentrated wealth cannot long endure side by side in a democracy"
"I have ever deemed it more honorable and profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one."
"Let the eye of vigilance never be closed."
"Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see."
"The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated …"
"It is not by the consolidation or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected."