Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The second office in the government is honorable and easy.. view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people.. view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Taste cannot be controlled by law... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

We never repent of having eaten too little... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression... view

By: Thomas Jefferson

We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country... view

By: Thomas Jefferson