We are not immortal ourselves, my friend; how can we expect our enjoyments to be so? We have no rose without its… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. . . . We might as well… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“The pretense that the workings of the mind, like the actions of the body, are subject to the control of laws, does… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every constitution..., and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years [a generation]. If it be enforced longer, it is… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In America, no other distinction between man and man had ever been known but that of persons in office exercising powers by… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
No person shall be restrained of his liberty but by regular process from a court of justice, authorized by a general law.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The instability of our laws is really an immense evil. I think it would be well to provide in our constitutions that… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Greeks by their laws, and the Romans by the spirit of their people, took care to put into the hands of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
But of all the views of this law [universal education] none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
While the principles of our Constitution give just latitude to inquiry, every citizen faithful to it will deem embodied expressions of discontent… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
There are other places at which ... the laws have said there shall be towns; but Nature has said there shall not,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Many are the exercises of power reserved to the States wherein a uniformity of proceeding would be advantageous to all. Such are… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[An] act of the Congress of the United States... which assumes powers... not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If the question [before justices of the peace] relate to any point of public liberty, or if it be one of those… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
[T]he true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If virtuous, the government need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The mobs of the great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Sir, Your letter of the 15th is received, but Age has long since obliged me to withhold my mind from Speculations of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest virtues of a good citizen, but it is not… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
... legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property... Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am convinced that those societies (such as the Native American peoples) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an… — 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 Image
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 Image
[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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is 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 in government,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
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 Image
“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 Image
![“Every constitution..., and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years [a generation]. If it be enforced longer, it is anact of force, and not of right.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/efe/thomas-jefferson-43_constitution_every-constitution-and-every-law-natural_235260.jpg)
![“But of all the views of this law [universal education] none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e89/thomas-jefferson-43_education_but-of-all-the-views-of-this-law-univers_2077845.jpg)
![“[An] act of the Congress of the United States... which assumes powers... not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1d6/thomas-jefferson-43_assuming_an-act-of-the-congress-of-the-united-sta_2118842.jpg)
![“If the question [before justices of the peace] relate to any point of public liberty, or if it be one of those in which the judges may be suspected of bias, the jury undertake to decide both law and fact.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f8a/thomas-jefferson-43_bias_if-the-question-before-justices-of-the-p_982924.jpg)
![“[T]he true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely gathered from the words, but may be sought also in extraneous circumstances provided they do not contradict the express words of the law.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0dd/thomas-jefferson-43_circumstances_t-he-true-key-for-the-construction-of-ev_2208761.jpg)
![“[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/401/thomas-jefferson-43_branches_states-and-the-federal-government-are-co_2619.jpg)
![“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00c/thomas-jefferson-43_change_single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-t_5515.jpg)
![“Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of [any difficult situation] in the easiest manner possible...” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ebe/thomas-jefferson-43_difficult_though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one_9828.jpg)
