--- title: "3 Decline Quotes By Thomas Jefferson" description: "3 Decline quotes by Thomas Jefferson. Plus more from Thomas Jefferson and more Decline sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/thomas-jefferson-43_burden_in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especi_124054.jpg" --- > [In a virtuous government, and more especially in times like these, public offices are what they should be - burdens to those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especially-in-times-like-these/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/thomas-jefferson-43_burden_in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especi_124054.jpg) > [“Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/whereas-it-appeareth-that-however-certain-forms-of-government-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf8/thomas-jefferson-43_apathy_whereas-it-appeareth-that-however-certai_1427313.jpg) > [By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/by-a-declaration-of-rights-i-mean-one-which-shall-stipulate-freedom/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/thomas-jefferson-43_army_by-a-declaration-of-rights-i-mean-one-wh_1563260.jpg) ## Other authors on Decline - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-noam-chomsky-71799.jpg) Noam Chomsky 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/noam-chomsky/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-milton-friedman-68333.jpg) Milton Friedman 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/milton-friedman/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-martin-jacques-64730.jpg) Martin Jacques 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/martin-jacques/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-benjamin-graham-17141.jpg) Benjamin Graham 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/benjamin-graham/) - [Samuel Johnson 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/samuel-johnson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-penelope-spheeris-74493.jpg) Penelope Spheeris 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/penelope-spheeris/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-ludwig-von-mises-61872.jpg) Ludwig von Mises 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/ludwig-von-mises/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b015/author-lester-r-brown-59929.jpg) Lester R. Brown 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/lester-r-brown/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bernie-sanders-17420.jpg) Bernie Sanders 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/bernie-sanders/) ## 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/decline/thomas-jefferson/#itemlist", "name": "3 Decline Quotes By Thomas Jefferson", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In a virtuous government, and more especially in times like these, public offices are what they should be - burdens to those appointed to them which it would be wrong to decline, though foreseen to bring them intense labor and great private loss.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especially-in-times-like-these/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/thomas-jefferson-43_burden_in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especi_124054.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/thomas-jefferson-43_burden_in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especi_124054.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/thomas-jefferson-43_burden_in-a-virtuous-government-and-more-especi_124054.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In a virtuous government, and more especially in times like these, public offices are what they should be…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, …whence it becomes expedient for promoting the publick happiness that those persons, whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue, should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens, and that they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth or accidental condition of circumstance.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/whereas-it-appeareth-that-however-certain-forms-of-government-are/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf8/thomas-jefferson-43_apathy_whereas-it-appeareth-that-however-certai_1427313.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf8/thomas-jefferson-43_apathy_whereas-it-appeareth-that-however-certai_1427313.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf8/thomas-jefferson-43_apathy_whereas-it-appeareth-that-however-certai_1427313.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. 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