How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the earth were it not for misgovernment and a diversion of his energies to selfish interests.

I am already sensible of decay in the power of walking, and find my memory not so faithful as it used to be. This may be partly owing to the incessant current of new matter flowing constantly through it; but I ascribe to years their share in it also.

I am savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds, and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures of this gaycapital [Paris].

No man has done everything he can who has done only his best.

The value of science to a republican people, the security it gives to liberty by enlightening the minds of its citizens, the protection it affords against foreign power, the virtue it inculcates, the just emulation of the distinction it confers on nations foremost in it; in short, its identification with power, morals, order and happiness (which merits to it premiums of encouragement rather than repressive taxes), are considerations [that should] always [be] present and [bear] with their just weight.

When earth is rich it bids defiance to droughts, yields in abundance and of the best quality.

Man is not made for the State but the State for man and it derives its just powers only from the consent of the governed.