A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In a free society with a government based on reason, it is inevitable that there will be no uniform opinion about important… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
To me... it appears that there have been differences of opinion and party differences, from the first establishment of government to the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Who will govern the governors? There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government… — 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
Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Most codes extend their definitions of treason to acts not really against one's country. They do not distinguish between acts against the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The tumults in America I expected would have produced in Europe an unfavorable opinion of our political state. But it has not.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it… — 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
Convinced that the republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I place economy among the first and most important virtues and public debt as the greatest dangers to be feared... We must… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I place economy among the first and most important virtues and public debt as the greatest dangers to be feared. To preserve… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The constitution has divided the powers of government into three branches, Legislative, Executive and Judiciary, lodging each with a distinct magistracy. The… — 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
