If I had to choose between government and a free press, I would choose a free press. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If ever there was a holy war, it was that which saved our liberties and gave us independence. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Our attachment to no nation on earth should supplant our attachment to liberty. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[Oppose] with manly firmness [any] invasions on the rights of the people. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Declaration of Independence . . . [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Taste cannot be controlled by law. We must resist at all costs any attempt to regulate our individual freedoms and to legislate… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“That liberty [is pure] which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone. (to Horatio Gates, 1798)” — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have remover their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
When the representative body have lost the confidence of their constituents, when they have notoriously made sale of their most valuable rights,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The sun of her [Great Britain] glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her philosophy has crossed the Channel, her freedom the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be ... The People cannot… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I sincerely pray that all the members of the human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Our [Virginia's] act for freedom of religion is extremely applauded. The Ambassadors and ministers of the several nations of Europe resident at… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“Our Revolution commenced on more favorable ground. It presented us an album on which we were free to write what we pleased.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
He [Washington] has often declared to me that he considered our new constitution as an experiment on the practicability of republican government,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“I wish that all nations may recover and retain their independence; that those which are overgrown may not advance beyond safe measures… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
“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,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
![“Freedom [is] the first-born daughter of science” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/e07/thomas-jefferson-43_born_freedom-is-the-first-born-daughter-of-sc_857414.jpg)
![“[Oppose] with manly firmness [any] invasions on the rights of the people.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/082/thomas-jefferson-43_firmness_oppose-with-manly-firmness-any-invasions_531228.jpg)
![“The Declaration of Independence . . . [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/842/thomas-jefferson-43_charter_the-declaration-of-independence-is-the-d_2986946.jpg)
![“That liberty [is pure] which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone. (to Horatio Gates, 1798)” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/289/thomas-jefferson-43_altruism_that-liberty-is-pure-which-is-to-go-to-a_2503235.jpg)
![“The sun of her [Great Britain] glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her philosophy has crossed the Channel, her freedom the Atlantic, and herself seems passing to that awful dissolution, whose issue is not given human foresight to scan.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/d42/thomas-jefferson-43_awful_the-sun-of-her-great-britain-glory-is-fa_572892.jpg)
![“I had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to the height you describe. This must be owing to the growth of Presbyterianism. The blasphemy of the five points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/c6e/thomas-jefferson-43_blasphemy_i-had-no-idea-however-that-in-pennsylvan_2564008.jpg)
![“Our [Virginia's] act for freedom of religion is extremely applauded. The Ambassadors and ministers of the several nations of Europe resident at this court have asked me copies of it to send to their sovereigns, and it is inserted at full length in several books now in the press; among others, in…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/508/thomas-jefferson-43_ambassadors_our-virginia-s-act-for-freedom-of-religi_2603800.jpg)
![“He [Washington] has often declared to me that he considered our new constitution as an experiment on the practicability of republican government, and with what dose of liberty man could be trusted for his own good; that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, and would lose the…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/fcd/thomas-jefferson-43_blood_he-washington-has-often-declared-to-me-t_2416809.jpg)
![“[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate for long years to come. Their steady habits [will] exclude the advances of information, and they [will] seem exactly where they [have always been]. And there [the]…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/612/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_if-the-nature-of-government-were-a-subor_2243937.jpg)
