--- title: "4 Contracts Quotes By Thomas Jefferson" description: "4 Contracts quotes by Thomas Jefferson. Plus more from Thomas Jefferson and more Contracts sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd3/thomas-jefferson-43_contracts_no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-de_166552.jpg" --- > [No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-debts-greater-than-can-be-paid/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd3/thomas-jefferson-43_contracts_no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-de_166552.jpg) > [The earth belongs to the living. No man can, by natural right, oblige the lands he occupied or the persons who succeed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-earth-belongs-to-the-living-no-man-can-by-natural-right-oblige/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/643/thomas-jefferson-43_contracts_the-earth-belongs-to-the-living-no-man-c_1885365.jpg) > [The banks themselves were doing business on capitals three-fourths of which were fictitious. This fictitious capital... is now to be lost, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-banks-themselves-were-doing-business-on-capitals-three-fourths-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/787/thomas-jefferson-43_amount_the-banks-themselves-were-doing-business_2185883.jpg) > [But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/but-with-respect-to-future-debt-would-it-not-be-wise-and-just-for/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bed/thomas-jefferson-43_age_but-with-respect-to-future-debt-would-it_2469334.jpg) ## Other authors on Contracts ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-two-principles-on-which-our-conduct-towards-the-indians-should-be/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/knowledge-is-power-knowled-ge-is-safety-knowle-dge-is-happiness/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nothing-but-free-argument-raillery-and-even-ridicule-will-preserve/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contracts/thomas-jefferson/#itemlist", "name": "4 Contracts Quotes By Thomas Jefferson", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-debts-greater-than-can-be-paid/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd3/thomas-jefferson-43_contracts_no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-de_166552.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd3/thomas-jefferson-43_contracts_no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-de_166552.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd3/thomas-jefferson-43_contracts_no-generation-has-a-right-to-contract-de_166552.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The earth belongs to the living. No man can, by natural right, oblige the lands he occupied or the persons who succeed him in that occupation, to the payment of debts contracted by him. For if he could, he might, during his own life, eat up the use of the lands for several generations to come, and then the lands would belong to the dead, and not to the living. 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