I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
May it be to the world... to assume the blessings and security of self-government. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The chief purpose of government is to protect life. Abandon that and you have abandoned all. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Each generation has a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its 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… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I do love this people [the French] with all my heart, and think that with a better religion and a better form… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I rejoice when I hear of young men of virtue and talents, worthy to receive and likely to preserve the splendid inheritance… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason, I deem [one of] the essential… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I do verily believe that if the principle were to prevail of a common law being in force in the United States… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A government is republican in proportion as every member composing it has his equal voice in the direction of its concerns, not… — 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
In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The people, especially when moderately instructed, are the only safe, because the only honest, depositaries of the public rights, and should therefore… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A single good government becomes... a blessing to the whole earth, its welcome to the oppressed restraining within certain limits the measure… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is a misnomer to call a government republican in which a branch of the supreme power is independent of the nation. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The freedom of the press is on of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by a despotic… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
With all the imperfections of our present government, it is without comparison the best existing, or that ever did exist. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“The care of human life and happiness, and their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of a good government.” — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the most corrupt government on the earth. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The excellence of every government is its adaptation to the state of those to be governed by it. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The second office of this government is honorable and easy, the first is but a splendid misery. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I would rather have newspapers without a government than a government without newspapers. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The further the departure from direct and constant control by the citizens, the less has the government of the ingredient of republicanism. — 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
![“I do love this people [the French] with all my heart, and think that with a better religion and a better form of government and their present governors their condition and country would be most enviable.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d2/thomas-jefferson-43_conditions_i-do-love-this-people-the-french-with-al_1131931.jpg)
![“The diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason, I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one of] those which ought to shape its administration.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb3/thomas-jefferson-43_abuse_the-diffusion-of-information-and-the-arr_2602644.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/quotes/i/612/thomas-jefferson-43_atheism_if-the-nature-of-government-were-a-subor_2243937.jpg)
![“[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/867/thomas-jefferson-43_acquiescence_the-purpose-of-a-written-constitution-is_244689.jpg)
