Содержание
- 100 Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Liberty and Society
- Best Thomas Jefferson Quotes
- Famous Thomas Jefferson Quotes
- Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Liberty
- Insightful Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Government and Democracy
- Short Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Arm You With Wisdom
- Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Politics and Tyranny
- Enlightening Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Education and Knowledge
- Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Help You Understand and Uncover the Truth
- Thomas Jefferson Quotes That Will Make You Think
- Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Friendship
- Profound Thomas Jefferson Quotes
- More Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Expand Your Mind
- How Did Thomas Jefferson Influence Your Views About Freedom and Society?
- 3 thoughts on “100 Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Liberty and Society”
- About
100 Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Liberty and Society
Learn more about America and the government through these Thomas Jefferson quotes.
As one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson had many accomplishments during his time in office.
But, he’s mostly remembered as one of the people who worked hard for their independence from Great Britain.
Indeed, his contributions will never be forgotten. History has already seen his courage and fighting spirit. But today, you will also see how his words and ideas continue to impact the world significantly.
So, don’t miss out on this impressive collection by adding this to your must-read list now.
Learn about men, society, and government through the collection of Thomas Jefferson quotes below.
Start reading here.
Best Thomas Jefferson Quotes
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1. “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
2. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
3. “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”
4. “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”
5. “There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.”
6. “When angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, count to 100.”
7. “Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.”
8. “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
9. “It is always better to have no ideas than false ones. To believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.”
10. “Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.”
11. “Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love.”
Famous Thomas Jefferson Quotes
12. “In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
13. “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
14. “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
15. “Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.”
16. “It is the great parent of science and of virtue, and that a nation will be great in both, always in proportion as it is free.”
17. “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
18. “He who knows best knows how little he knows.”
19. “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
20. “We must dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity.”
21. “Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”
22. “Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.”
23. “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”
24. “One man with courage is a majority.”
25. “I find that he is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Liberty
26. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
27. “Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.”
28. “Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.”
29. “No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.”
30. “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because the law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”
31. “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
32. “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.”
Insightful Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Government and Democracy
33. “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
34. “In every country where man is free to think and to speak, the difference of opinion will arise from difference of perception, and the imperfection of reason, but these differences, when permitted, as in this happy country, to purify themselves by free discussion, are but as passing clouds overspreading our land transiently, and leaving our horizon more bright and serene.”
35. “Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government, that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
36. “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
37. “It is error alone which needs the support of the government. Truth can stand by itself.”
38. “Experience hath shown that even under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
39. “Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.”
40. “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
41. “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”
Short Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Arm You With Wisdom
42. “Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.”
43. “The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead.”
44. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
45. “The art of life is the art of avoiding pain.”
46. “Power is not alluring to pure minds.”
47. “He who permits himself to tell a lie once finds it much easier to do it the second time.”
48. “Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.”
49. “A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.”
50. “I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.”
51. “Be polite to all, but intimate with few.”
52. “One travels more usefully when alone because he reflects more.”
53. “Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.”
54. “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
55. “Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.”
56. “It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Politics and Tyranny
57. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
58. “I hope our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.”
59. “History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.”
60. “Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of the body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”
61. “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
Enlightening Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Education and Knowledge
62. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
63. “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
64. “Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.”
65. “I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led.”
66. “The opinions and beliefs of men follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds.”
67. “I cannot live without books, but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Help You Understand and Uncover the Truth
68. “Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.”
69. “There is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.”
70. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
71. “In truth, politeness is artificial good humor. It covers the natural want of it and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.”
72. “Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.”
73. “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”
74. “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes That Will Make You Think
75. “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”
76. “Question with boldness even the existence of a god because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.”
77. “Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.”
78. “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.”
79. “We confide in our strength, without boasting of it, we respect that of others, without fearing it.”
80. “Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.”
81. “It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.”
82. “It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.”
83. “Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived have forced me to take a part in resisting them and to commit myself to the boisterous ocean of political passions.”
84. “How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened.”
85. “The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of heaven, and it is well it is so since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind.”
86. “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. That His justice cannot sleep forever.”
87. “My theory has always been that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap and pleasanter than the gloom of despair.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Friendship
88. “But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement, the greater part of life is sunshine.”
89. “I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man’s milk and restorative cordial.”
90. “Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.”
91. “Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient. Why enter then as volunteers into those of another?”
Profound Thomas Jefferson Quotes
92. “War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrongs, and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.”
93. “I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”
94. “Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.”
95. “As our enemies have found, we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.”
96. “When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.”
More Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Expand Your Mind
97. “But as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is on one scale, and self-preservation on the other.”
98. “A machine for making revolutions is doing precisely the wrong thing at just the right time.”
99. “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
100. “I am satisfied and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.”
How Did Thomas Jefferson Influence Your Views About Freedom and Society?
It is evident in Thomas Jefferson’s words how he dreamed of his country someday being free. This thinking may seem simple, but fully trusting this idea is enough to spark a revolution.
By improving on himself and his skills, the people witnessed Thomas Jefferson’s patriotism and dedication to the country. He offered his whole life to learn about society, government, revolution, and how they all affect America as a whole. More than that, he empowered the masses to fight for their freedom.
In a way, Thomas Jefferson is inspiring not only in terms of the legacy he left after his death. He also showed that you could achieve anything that you dream of with determination and hard work.
Hopefully, these Thomas Jefferson quotes were able to motivate you to work for your goals. Like him, remember to be strong in whatever circumstance you face. Feel free to reread our list of Thomas Jefferson quotes whenever you need inspiration!
Which Thomas Jefferson quote is your favorite? Which of his contributions to society do you think is most admirable? Comment below!
3 thoughts on “100 Thomas Jefferson Quotes on Liberty and Society”
Amy: I love this concept and information. However, I should observe, you have several pictures purported to be of Thomas Jefferson and certain quotes. Some of these are in error. For example, you have a picture of Andrew Jackson, Templeton Franklin, and possibly others. So, I thought you might want to check the veracity of pictures you may want to use in future quotations, if veracity of information including portraits, is important to your efforts.
Hey, Luke. Thank you so much for pointing that out. We’ve checked and already removed the wrong image. Again, thank you, Luke.
These should be copied in very large print, hung on every wall in the halls of Congress and at least five of them read aloud by the Speaker every day Congress is in session.
Comments are closed.
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Источник
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the 3rd President of the United States.
Sourced quotes
- «Delay is preferable to error.»[1]
- Simple: Taking your time is better than making a mistake.
- «All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.»[2]
- Simple: All a bad person needs to become a leader is for the good people to do nothing.
- «Good wine is a necessity of life for me.»[3]
- Simple: I need good wine.
- «Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.» [4]
- Simple: The United States should be peaceful and trade with other nations but we should not have allies.
- «A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.»[4]
- Simple: A good government should only stop men from hurting each other.
- «If there be any among us who wish to dissolve the Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed, as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.» [4]
- Simple: If anyone wants to get rid of the United State’s or wants it to have a different form of government then let them say that without being interrupted. This shows that we tolerate other people’s opinions.
- «I never consider a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.» [4]
- Simple: Just because someone had a different opinion in politics, religion, or philosophy does not mean that I should should not be their friend.
- «My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.» [4]
- Simple: Too much government control makes a government bad.
- «If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.» [4]
- Simple: If a law is wrong, not only is it okay for them to disobey it, but they should disobey it.
- «The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.»[4]
- Simple: For man to be free people must fight for it from time to time.
- «No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.»[4]
- Simple: All free men should be allowed to own guns.
References
- ↑ Letter to George Washington (May 16, 1792)
- ↑ Norris, Chuck. «Black Belt Patriotism». Google Books. Retrieved on February 28, 2009
- ↑ Lynch, Kermit. «Inspiring Thirst». Google Books. Retrieved on February 28, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 «Libertarian Quotes». Retrieved on March 11, 2009
Other websites
v • d • e Vice Presidents of the United States of America |
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John Adams · Thomas Jefferson · Aaron Burr · George Clinton · Elbridge Gerry · Daniel D. Tompkins · John C. Calhoun · Martin Van Buren · Richard Mentor Johnson · John Tyler · George M. Dallas · Millard Fillmore · William R. King · John C. Breckinridge · Hannibal Hamlin · Andrew Johnson · Schuyler Colfax · Henry Wilson · William A. Wheeler · Chester A. Arthur · Thomas A. Hendricks · Levi P. Morton · Adlai E. Stevenson · Garret Hobart · Theodore Roosevelt · Charles W. Fairbanks · James S. Sherman · Thomas R. Marshall · Calvin Coolidge · Charles G. Dawes · Charles Curtis · John Nance Garner · Henry A. Wallace · Harry S. Truman · Alben W. Barkley · Richard Nixon · Lyndon B. Johnson · Hubert Humphrey · Spiro Agnew · Gerald Ford · Nelson Rockefeller · Walter Mondale · George H. W. Bush · Dan Quayle · Al Gore · Dick Cheney · Joe Biden |
v • d • e Presidents of the United States of America |
|
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Washington · J. Adams · Jefferson · Madison · Monroe · J. Q. Adams · Jackson · Van Buren · W. H. Harrison · Tyler · Polk · Taylor · Fillmore · Pierce · Buchanan · Lincoln · A. Johnson · Grant · Hayes · Garfield · Arthur · Cleveland · B. Harrison · Cleveland · McKinley · T. Roosevelt · Taft · Wilson · Harding · Coolidge · Hoover · F.D. Roosevelt · Truman · Eisenhower · Kennedy · L. B. Johnson · Nixon · Ford · Carter · Reagan · G. H. W. Bush · Clinton · G. W. Bush · Obama |
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Verzögerung ist Fehler vorzuziehen.
el retraso es preferible al error.
देरी त्रुटि के लिए बेहतर है।
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100 Inspirational Quotes By Thomas Jefferson, The Author Of The Declaration Of Independence
Famous As: 3rd President of the United States
Born In: Shadwell, Virginia, United States
Founder / Co Founder: University of Virginia
Died At Age: 83
Thomas Jefferson was one of the most important people of the American Revolution. At seventeen, he was the youngest member of the Continental Congress. Nevertheless, despite his young age, he was blessed with great political skills that made him America’s Founding Father. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, which went on to become the most beautiful and most powerful testaments to liberty and equality in world history. It took him just seventeen days to come up with the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. In addition to being a draftsman, Jefferson’s political pursuits made him hold several important political positions. He was the first diplomat abroad, first Secretary of State, second Vice President of America under John Adams and third President of United States of America. A proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, he motivated American colonists to break free from Great Britain and form a new nation. Jeffered even authored the Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom and was also responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. His belief in equality of mankind, liberty of nation and a free-country concept led him to come up with various quotes that have sowed the bud of nationalism and patriotism in his countrymen and even helped them believe in their individualism. Check out some of the quotes by Thomas Jefferson and get enlightened.
I cannot live without books.
Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.Thomas Jefferson
Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.Thomas Jefferson
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.Thomas Jefferson
I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of itThomas Jefferson
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.Thomas Jefferson
On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.Thomas Jefferson
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.Thomas Jefferson
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.Thomas Jefferson
Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry…Thomas Jefferson
History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.Thomas Jefferson
Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing.Thomas Jefferson
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.Thomas Jefferson
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.Thomas Jefferson
All should be laid open to you without reserve, for there is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.Thomas Jefferson
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.Thomas Jefferson
The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.Thomas Jefferson
There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.Thomas Jefferson
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.Thomas Jefferson
I think one travels more usefully when they travel alone, because they reflect more.»
(Letter to John Banister, Jr., June 19, 1787)Thomas Jefferson
Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.Thomas Jefferson
Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.Thomas Jefferson
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.Thomas Jefferson
Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.Thomas Jefferson
Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government…Thomas Jefferson
I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led.Thomas Jefferson
Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations…entangling alliances with noneThomas Jefferson
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.Thomas Jefferson
How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!Thomas Jefferson
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.Thomas Jefferson
Be polite to all, but intimate with few.Thomas Jefferson
Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.Thomas Jefferson
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.Thomas Jefferson
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.Thomas Jefferson
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.Thomas Jefferson
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and opressions of the body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.Thomas Jefferson
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.Thomas Jefferson
Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love.Thomas Jefferson
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.Thomas Jefferson
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time.Thomas Jefferson
I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.Thomas Jefferson
I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.Thomas Jefferson
Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.Thomas Jefferson
Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.Thomas Jefferson
An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.Thomas Jefferson
Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.Thomas Jefferson
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.Thomas Jefferson
I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.Thomas Jefferson
An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.Thomas Jefferson
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have ~Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson
No people can be both ignorant and free.Thomas Jefferson
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.Thomas Jefferson
He who knows best knows how little he knows.Thomas Jefferson
It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justiceThomas Jefferson
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.Thomas Jefferson
Good wine is a necessity of life for me.Thomas Jefferson
We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.Thomas Jefferson
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his (sic)patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of diseaseThomas Jefferson
A great deal of love given to a few is better than a little to many.Thomas Jefferson
The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.Thomas Jefferson
The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.Thomas Jefferson
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.Thomas Jefferson
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it.Thomas Jefferson
Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.Thomas Jefferson
The dead should not rule the living.Thomas Jefferson
The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.
—The Fruit HuntersThomas Jefferson
Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry.Thomas Jefferson
I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.Thomas Jefferson
Never trouble another for what you can do yourselfThomas Jefferson
Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke’s argument.Thomas Jefferson
[Christianity is] the most … perverted system that ever shone on man.Thomas Jefferson
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.Thomas Jefferson
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.Thomas Jefferson
A little rebellion is good now and then.Thomas Jefferson
The only security of all is in a free press.Thomas Jefferson
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.Thomas Jefferson
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.Thomas Jefferson
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms… disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.Thomas Jefferson
And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.Thomas Jefferson
Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.Thomas Jefferson
Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.Thomas Jefferson
I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.Thomas Jefferson
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.Thomas Jefferson
Without books, I would certainly die.Thomas Jefferson
Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.Thomas Jefferson
Health, learning and virtue will ensure your happiness; they will give
you a quiet conscience, private esteem and public honour.Thomas Jefferson
We have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoyments because he is of another church.Thomas Jefferson
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion.Thomas Jefferson
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, no culture comparable to that of the garden…But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.Thomas Jefferson
I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.Thomas Jefferson
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.Thomas Jefferson
…We are all Federalists,and we are all Republicans.Thomas Jefferson
Peace, that glorious moment in time when everyone stops and reloads.Thomas Jefferson
In matters of principal stand like a rock.Thomas Jefferson
Do not be too severe upon the errors of the people, but reclaim them by enlightening them.Thomas Jefferson
I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.Thomas Jefferson