I have overlived the generation with which mutual labors & perils begat mutual confidence and influence.
Thomas JeffersonI never before knew the full value of trees....What would I not give that the trees planted nearest round the house at Monticello were full grown.
Thomas JeffersonThe 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?
Thomas JeffersonIf there is a gratification which I envy any people in this world it is to your country [Italy] its music. This is the favorite passion of my soul, and fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a state of deplorable barbarism.
Thomas JeffersonI think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
Thomas Jefferson