When earth is rich it bids defiance to droughts, yields in abundance and of the best quality. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science by rendering them my supreme delight. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The sickly, weakly, timid man fears the people, and is a Tory by nature. The healthy, strong and bold cherishes them, and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Our ancestors ... possessed a right, which nature has given to all men, of departing from the country in which chance, not… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely gives him comfortable subsistence. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Let the farmer forevermore be honored in his calling; for they who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!” — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
By... [selecting] the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The rights [to religious freedom] are of the natural rights of mankind, and ... if any act shall be ... passed to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The general desire of men to live by their heads rather than their hands, and the strong allurements of great cities to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I hold it to be one of the distinguishing excellences of elective over hereditary successions that the talents which nature has provided… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Nor is it less… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The parties of Whig and Tory are those of nature. They exist in all countries, whether called by these names or by… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
War is not the best engine for us to resort to; nature has given us one in our commerce, which if properly… — 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
“If, therefore, from the settlement of the Saxons, to the introduction of Christianity among them, that system of religion could not be… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
By nature's law, every man has a right to seize and retake by force his own property taken from him by another,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It has also been a great solace to me, to believe that you are engaged in vindicating to posterity the course we… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society. And… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It be urged that the wild and uncultivated tree, hitherto yielding sour and bitter fruit only, can never be made to yield… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Nature [has] implanted in our breasts a love of others, a sense of duty to them, a moral instinct, in short, which… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the earth were it not for misgovernment and a diversion of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I set out on this ground, which I suppose to be self evident, "that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living":… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Never throw off the best affections of nature in the moment when they become most precious to their object; nor fear to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“We seem not to perceive that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation is to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
There is a debt of service due from every man to his country, proportioned to the bounties which nature and fortune have… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The liberty of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with… — 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
![“By... [selecting] the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/952/thomas-jefferson-43_class_by-selecting-the-youths-of-genius-from-a_932967.jpg)
![“The rights [to religious freedom] are of the natural rights of mankind, and ... if any act shall be ... passed to repeal [an act granting those rights] or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/b59/thomas-jefferson-43_freedom_the-rights-to-religious-freedom-are-of-t_2762239.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)
![“Nature [has] implanted in our breasts a love of others, a sense of duty to them, a moral instinct, in short, which prompts us irresistibly to feel and to succor their distresses.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/af7/thomas-jefferson-43_breasts_nature-has-implanted-in-our-breasts-a-lo_531725.jpg)
![“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/7a2/thomas-jefferson-43_4th-of-july_a-free-people-claim-their-rights-as-deri_1508457.jpg)
