Self-interest, or rather self-love, or egoism, has been more plausibly substituted as the basis of morality. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Everything is useful which contributes to fix the principles and practices of virtue. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Christian god is a being of terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The order of nature [is] that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The moral sense, or conscience, is as much part of a man as his leg or arm. It is given to all… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Laws ... proportionate and mild should never be dispensed with. Let mercy be the character of the law-giver, but let the judge… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
State a moral case to a plowman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
in the spring he will attend your botanical course. his natural turn is very strongly to the objects of your two courses… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Self-love . . . is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If the Wise be the happy man... he must be virtuous too; for, without virtue, happiness cannot be. This then is the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
He who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made the rules of our moral conduct a matter… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The monopoly of a single bank is certainly an evil. The multiplication of them was intended to cure it; but it multiplied… — 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 steady character of our countrymen is a rock to which we may safely moor; and notwithstanding the efforts of the papers… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
His system of morality was the most benevolent and sublime probably that has been ever taught, and consequently more perfect than those… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Stock dealers and banking companies, by the aid of a paper system, are enriching themselves to the ruin of our country, and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Having labored faithfully in establishing the right of self-government, we see in the rising generation, into whose hands it is passing, that… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The fantastical idea of virtue and the public good being a sufficient security to the state against the commission of crimes, which… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Those characters wherein fear predominates over hope may apprehend too much from...instances of irregularity. They may conclude too hastily that nature has… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I believe that justice is instinct and innate, that the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
While learning the language in France a young man's morals, health and fortune are more irresistibly endangered than in any country of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Yes, we did produce a near perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible to civilization. I… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The human character, we believe, requires in general constant and immediate control to prevent its being biased from right by the seductions… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If a sect arises whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play and reasons and laughs it out of doors… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Religion, morality, and knowledge are necessary for good government... Therefore schools and the means of educating the people should always be encouraged. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
... I am not afraid of priests. They have tried upon me all their various batteries of pious whining, hypocritical canting, lying… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
this last establishment will probably be within a mile of Charlottesville, and four from Monticello, if the system should be adopted at… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
When we come to the moral principles on which the government is to be administered, we come to what is proper for… — 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 Image
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 Image
[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 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
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
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 Image
Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
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 Image
“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 Image
![“Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ba5/thomas-jefferson-43_character_political-interest-can-never-be-separate_2925329.jpg)
![“The order of nature [is] that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b81/thomas-jefferson-43_character_the-order-of-nature-is-that-individual-h_1022487.jpg)
![“[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/401/thomas-jefferson-43_branches_states-and-the-federal-government-are-co_2619.jpg)
![“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00c/thomas-jefferson-43_change_single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-t_5515.jpg)
![“Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of [any difficult situation] in the easiest manner possible...” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ebe/thomas-jefferson-43_difficult_though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one_9828.jpg)
