Thomas Jefferson Quotes

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

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.

The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

Truth between candid minds can never do harm.

The government you elect is the government you deserve.

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!

A true patriot will defend his country from its government.

Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.

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

Equal rights for all, special privileges for none

I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.

The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.

The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.

To learn, you have to listen. To improve, you have to try.

The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate.

There is no justification for taking away individuals' freedom in the guise of public safety.

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.

Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality

The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood.

The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

A private central bank issuing the public currency is a greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army. We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

To consider judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions is a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.

No government should be without critics. If its intentions are good then it has nothing to fear from criticism.

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

If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

Our citizens may be deceived for awhile, and have been deceived; but as long as the presses can be protected, we may trust to them for light.

When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither.

Difference of opinion leads to inquiry, and inquiry to the truth.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.

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.

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

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

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

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.

There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.

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

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart.

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.