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Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

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I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

Health is worth more than learning.

A little rebellion now and then...is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.

No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.

Is it the Fourth?

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.

If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.

Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

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

Never spend your money before you have it.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. 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; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.

Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.

The Price Of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance.

We never regret having eaten too little.

I cannot live without books.

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.

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.

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

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

No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will.

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 read no newspaper now but Ritchie's, and in that chiefly the advertisements, for they contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.

If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.

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

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

There is nothing more unequal, than the equal treatment of unequal people.

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

The tree of Liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the governing of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

Be polite to all, but intimate with few.

Our friendships are precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life;and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part is sunshine.

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

Question with boldness even the existance of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

I live for books.

My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness.

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.

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.

When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.

Delay is preferable to error.

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 tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

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

I like the dreams of the future, better than the history of the past.

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must approve the homage of reason rather than of blind-folded fear. Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences.

That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

The happiest moments of my life have a been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.

Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.

My views and feelings (are) in favor of the abolition of war--and I hope it is practicable, by improving the mind and morals of society, to lessen the disposition to war; but of its abolition I despair.

CP I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property

Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there is one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded faith.

I believe that justice is instinct and innate, the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as the threat of feeling, seeing and hearing.

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.

No instance exists of a person's writing two languages perfectly. That will always appear to be his native language which was most familiar to him in his youth.

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

I never told my religion nor scrutinize that of another. I never attempted to make a convert nor wished to change another's creed. I have judged of others' religion by their lives, for it is from our lives and not from our words that our religion must be read. By the same test must the world judge me.

I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.

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