Thomas Jefferson was a prominent Founding Father of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was known for his wisdom and eloquence. Jefferson was an influential figure in the American Revolution and a key contributor to the formation of the United States. Here are some of his famous quotes.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was a prominent American statesman, Founding Father, and the third President of the United States (1801-1809). He was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, and passed away on July 4, 1826, the same day as the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, along with John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson Quotes
1. “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
2. “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
3. “I cannot live without books.”
4. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
5. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”\
6. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
7. “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
8. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
9. “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
10. “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
11. “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
12. “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
13. “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
14. “Every generation needs a new revolution.”
15. “He who knows best knows how little he knows.”
16. “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”
17. “I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.”
18. “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”
19. “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.”
20. “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
21. “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.”
22. “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
23. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”
24. “No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
25. “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
26. “Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.”
27. “Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.”
28. “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”
29. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
30. “If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”
31. “The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.”
32. “Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.”
33. “The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”
34. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”
35. “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”
36. “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
37. “A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”
38. “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.”
39. “Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.”
40. “I never told my own religion, nor scrutinized that of another. I never attempted to make a convert, nor wished to change another’s creed.”
41. “It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.”
42. “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.”
43. “I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”
44. “I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet devised by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.”
45. “Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.”
46. “Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”
47. “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
48. “The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.”
49. “Mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
50. “The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.”
51. “I hope we shall take warning from the example and crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
52. “We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation.”
53. “The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.”
54. “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
55. “In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.”
56. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
57. “Every generation needs a new revolution.”
58. “In every country where man is free to think and to speak, difference of opinion will arise from difference of perception, and the imperfection of reason; but these differences, when permitted, as in this happy country, to purify themselves by free discussion, are but as passing clouds overspreading our land transiently, and leaving our horizon more bright and serene.”
59. “I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.”
60. “Never spend your money before you have earned it.”
61. “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.”
62. “No government ought to be without censors and where the press is free, no one ever will.”
63. “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
64. “The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.”
65. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
66. “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
67. “The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes which may greatly afflict us, and, to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and misfortunes, should be one of the principal studies and endeavours of our lives.”
68. “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.”
69. “I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.”
70. “The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
71. “In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.”
72. “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
73. “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.”
74. “I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.”
75. “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
76. “To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.”
77. “It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.”
78. “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
79. “My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.”
80. “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
81. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
82. “The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.”
83. “It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
84. “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
85. “The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.”
86. “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.”
87. “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
88. “Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”
89. “A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”
90. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
91. “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
92. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”
93. “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”
94. “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
95. “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”
96. “Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.”
97. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
98. “Mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
99. “The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.”
100. “The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.”
These quotes reflect Jefferson’s beliefs in democracy, individual rights, education, and the pursuit of knowledge. His contributions to the formation of the United States and his legacy as a statesman continue to inspire people to this day.
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