Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%.

Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous. . . .

The greatest calamity which could befall us would be submission to a government of unlimited powers.

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles.

The Christian god is a being of terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust.

We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

Health is worth more than learning.

Question with boldness even the existence of a god.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

Is it less dishonest to do what is wrong because it is not expressly prohibited by written law? Let us hope our moral principles are not yet in that stage of degeneracy.

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

I hope we shall . . . crush in [its] birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations.

It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.

Bigotry is the disease of ignorance.

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.

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.

Hemp is one of the greatest, most important substances of our nation

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

The God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?

Coffee - the favorite drink of the civilized world.

It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.

Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

The chief purpose of government is to protect life. Abandon that and you have abandoned all.

Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable.

It is more honorable to repair a wrong than to persist in it.

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.

I am sure that in estimating every man's value either in private or public life, a pure integrity is the quality we take first into calculation, and that learning and talents are only the second.

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.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

The olive tree is surely the richest gift of Heaven. I can scarcely expect bread.

One never really knows how much one has been touched by a place until one has left it.

A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.

An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.

Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society.

The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management.

The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government.

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God

the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.

Difference of opinion is helpful in religion.

Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.