Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The expedition of Messrs. Lewis & Clarke for exploring the river Missouri, & the best communication from that to the Pacific ocean, has had all the success which could have been expected.

The patriot, like the Christian, must learn to bear revilings and persecutions as a part of his duty; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command. But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for its exercise are repeated.

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

An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.

Convinced that the republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind, my prayers & efforts shall be cordially distributed to the support of that we have so happily established. It is indeed an animating thought that, while we are securing the rights of ourselves & our posterity, we are pointing out the way to struggling nations who wish, like us, to emerge from their tyrannies also. Heaven help their struggles, and lead them, as it has done us, triumphantly thro' them.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

The greatest honor of a man is in doing good to his fellow men, not in destroying them.

No nation is drunken where wine is cheap.

I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it.

Everything yields to diligence.

I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms are in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people, which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the nation, where it is found necessary, than to assume it by a construction which would make our powers boundless.

Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves.

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

I see no comfort in outliving one's friends, and remaining a mere monument of the times which are past.

I am tired of a life of contention, and of being the personal object for the hatred of every man, who hates the present state of things.

It is a wise rule and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same time to restrain the use of it within the limits of its faculties, "never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the same instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within a given term; and to consider that tax as pledged to the creditors on the public faith."

[T]he opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves, in their, own sphere of action, but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.

Honesty, disinterestedness and good nature are indispensable to procure the esteem and confidence of those with whom we live, and on whose esteem our happiness depends.

Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves.

For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead.

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.

The tender breasts of ladies were not formed for political convulsion.

By making this wine known to the public, I have rendered my country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the national debt.

To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important.

Responsibility is a tremendous engine in a free government.

Amplification is the vice of modern oratory. It is an insult to an assembly of reasonable men, disgusting and revolting instead ofpersuading. Speeches measured by the hour, die by the hour.

I have learned to be less confident in the conclusions of human reason, and give more credit to the honesty of contrary opinions.

I extremely believe in luck, and I discovered more hard work, your luck as much

The genuine and simple religion of Jesus will one day be restored: such as it was preached and practiced by Himself.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State.

Traveling makes men wiser, but less happy.

what are the objects of an useful American education? classical knowlege, modern languages & chiefly French, Spanish, & Italian; Mathematics; Natural philosophy; Natural History; Civil History; Ethics.

Heliotrope. To be sowed in the spring. A delicious flower, but I suspect it must be planted in boxes and kept in the house in the winter. The smell rewards the care.

My principles, and those always received by the republicans, do not admit to removing any person from office merely for a difference of political opinion. Malversations in office, and the exerting of official influence to control the freedom of election are good causes for removal.

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.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice

Every gentleman plays billiards, but someone who plays billiards too well, is no gentleman.

[F]alsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.

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

[A]lthough a republican government is slow to move, yet when once in motion, its momentum becomes irresistible.

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens . . . There has never been a moment of my life in which I should have relinquished for it the enjoyments of my family, my farm, my friends and books.

Health, learning and virtue will ensure your happiness; they will give you a quiet conscience, private esteem and public honour.

When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness, and accommodate everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil; while fretting and fuming only serves to increase your own torments.

Men possessing minds of the first order and who have had opportunities of being known and of acquiring the general confidence do not abound in any country beyond the wants of the country.

I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowlege among the people. no other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness.