--- title: "9 Late Quotes By Thomas Jefferson" description: "9 Late quotes by Thomas Jefferson. Plus more from Thomas Jefferson and more Late sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c4/thomas-jefferson-43_bed_whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i_1657617.jpg" --- > [Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i-rise-with-the-sun/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c4/thomas-jefferson-43_bed_whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i_1657617.jpg) > [The people will not understand the importance of the Second Amendment until it is too late.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-people-will-not-understand-the-importance-of-the-second-amendment/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d8/thomas-jefferson-43_amendment_the-people-will-not-understand-the-impor_185662.jpg) > [It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-too-late-in-the-day-for-men-of-sincerity-to-pretend-they/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/027/thomas-jefferson-43_against-religion_it-is-too-late-in-the-day-for-men-of-sin_1083441.jpg) > [In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that is our birthright and which we ever enjoyed till the late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-our-own-native-land-in-defense-of-the-freedom-that-is-our/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d0/thomas-jefferson-43_against-violence_in-our-own-native-land-in-defense-of-the_133746.jpg) > [The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-late-rebellion-in-massachusetts-has-given-more-alarm-than-i-think/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/053/thomas-jefferson-43_alarms_the-late-rebellion-in-massachusetts-has_1296861.jpg) > [During the late war I had an infallible rule for deciding what Great Britain would do on every occasion. It was, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/during-the-late-war-i-had-an-infallible-rule-for-deciding-what-great/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73c/thomas-jefferson-43_britain_during-the-late-war-i-had-an-infallible_1359845.jpg) > [Up until the late unpleasantness of the Civil war, then, the right of secession was more or less taken for granted in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the-civil-war-then-the-right-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/thomas-jefferson-43_amendments_up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the_121661.jpg) > [It is a moot question whether the origin of any kind of property is derived from nature at all. It is agreed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-a-moot-question-whether-the-origin-of-any-kind-of-property-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbf/thomas-jefferson-43_acres_it-is-a-moot-question-whether-the-origin_571456.jpg) > [In the constitution of Spain as proposed by the late Cortes, there was a principle entirely new to me:... that no person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-the-constitution-of-spain-as-proposed-by-the-late-cortes-there-was/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a77/thomas-jefferson-43_acquire_in-the-constitution-of-spain-as-proposed_2302931.jpg) ## Other authors on Late ## 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/late/thomas-jefferson/#itemlist", "name": "9 Late Quotes By Thomas Jefferson", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i-rise-with-the-sun/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c4/thomas-jefferson-43_bed_whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i_1657617.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c4/thomas-jefferson-43_bed_whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i_1657617.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c4/thomas-jefferson-43_bed_whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i_1657617.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The people will not understand the importance of the Second Amendment until it is too late.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-people-will-not-understand-the-importance-of-the-second-amendment/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d8/thomas-jefferson-43_amendment_the-people-will-not-understand-the-impor_185662.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d8/thomas-jefferson-43_amendment_the-people-will-not-understand-the-impor_185662.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d8/thomas-jefferson-43_amendment_the-people-will-not-understand-the-impor_185662.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The people will not understand the importance of the Second Amendment until it is too late.” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three; and yet that the one is not three, and the three are not one.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-too-late-in-the-day-for-men-of-sincerity-to-pretend-they/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/027/thomas-jefferson-43_against-religion_it-is-too-late-in-the-day-for-men-of-sin_1083441.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/027/thomas-jefferson-43_against-religion_it-is-too-late-in-the-day-for-men-of-sin_1083441.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/027/thomas-jefferson-43_against-religion_it-is-too-late-in-the-day-for-men-of-sin_1083441.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that is our birthright and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it. For the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. 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Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one. Nor will any degree of power in the hands of government prevent insurrections.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-late-rebellion-in-massachusetts-has-given-more-alarm-than-i-think/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/053/thomas-jefferson-43_alarms_the-late-rebellion-in-massachusetts-has_1296861.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/053/thomas-jefferson-43_alarms_the-late-rebellion-in-massachusetts-has_1296861.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/053/thomas-jefferson-43_alarms_the-late-rebellion-in-massachusetts-has_1296861.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. 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It was, to consider what they ought to do, and to take the reverse of that as what they would assuredly do, and I can say with truth that I was never deceived.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/during-the-late-war-i-had-an-infallible-rule-for-deciding-what-great/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73c/thomas-jefferson-43_britain_during-the-late-war-i-had-an-infallible_1359845.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73c/thomas-jefferson-43_britain_during-the-late-war-i-had-an-infallible_1359845.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73c/thomas-jefferson-43_britain_during-the-late-war-i-had-an-infallible_1359845.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“During the late war I had an infallible rule for deciding what Great Britain would do on every occasion. It…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Up until the late unpleasantness of the Civil war, then, the right of secession was more or less taken for granted in many quarters, and there has never been any amendment or even a Supreme Court decision saying it's improper. - Samual Francis, Secession May Be Legal But Not Expedient, Conservative Chronicles If there be any among us who wish to dissolve the Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed, as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the-civil-war-then-the-right-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/thomas-jefferson-43_amendments_up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the_121661.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/thomas-jefferson-43_amendments_up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the_121661.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/thomas-jefferson-43_amendments_up-until-the-late-unpleasantness-of-the_121661.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Up until the late unpleasantness of the Civil war, then, the right of secession was more or less taken for…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is a moot question whether the origin of any kind of property is derived from nature at all. It is agreed by those who have seriously considered the subject that no individual has, of natural right, a separate property in an acre of land, for instance. By a universal law, indeed, whatever, whether fixed or movable, belongs to all men equally and in common is the property for the moment of him who occupies it; but when he relinquishes the occupation, the property goes with it. Stable ownership is the gift of social law, and is given late in the progress of society.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-a-moot-question-whether-the-origin-of-any-kind-of-property-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbf/thomas-jefferson-43_acres_it-is-a-moot-question-whether-the-origin_571456.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbf/thomas-jefferson-43_acres_it-is-a-moot-question-whether-the-origin_571456.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbf/thomas-jefferson-43_acres_it-is-a-moot-question-whether-the-origin_571456.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is a moot question whether the origin of any kind of property is derived from nature at all. It is agreed…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In the constitution of Spain as proposed by the late Cortes, there was a principle entirely new to me:... that no person born after that day should ever acquire the rights of citizenship until he could read and write. It is impossible sufficiently to estimate the wisdom of this provision. Of all those which have been thought of for securing fidelity in the administration of the government, constant reliance to the principles of the constitution, and progressive amendments with the progressive advances of the human mind or changes in human affairs, it is the most effectual.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-the-constitution-of-spain-as-proposed-by-the-late-cortes-there-was/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a77/thomas-jefferson-43_acquire_in-the-constitution-of-spain-as-proposed_2302931.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a77/thomas-jefferson-43_acquire_in-the-constitution-of-spain-as-proposed_2302931.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a77/thomas-jefferson-43_acquire_in-the-constitution-of-spain-as-proposed_2302931.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the constitution of Spain as proposed by the late Cortes, there was a principle entirely new to me…” — Thomas Jefferson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/late/thomas-jefferson/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/late/thomas-jefferson/", "name": "Late Quotes by Thomas Jefferson", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/late/thomas-jefferson/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c4/thomas-jefferson-43_bed_whether-i-retire-to-bed-early-or-late-i_1657617.jpg" }, "description": "9 Late quotes by Thomas Jefferson. 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