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
But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The following [addition to the Bill of Rights] would have pleased me: The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Now I will avow, that I then believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
No man complains of his neighbor for ill management of his affairs, for an error in sowing his land, or marrying his… — 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 believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Convinced that the people are the only safe depositories of their own liberty, and that they are not safe unless enlightened to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
No government can continue good but under the control of the people; and . . . . their minds are to be… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
From the dissensions among Sects themselves arise necessarily a right of choosing and necessity of deliberating to which we will conform. But… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We do, then, most solemnly before God and the world declare that regardless of every consequence, at the risk of every distress,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I had always hoped that the younger generation receiving their early impressions after the flame of liberty had been kindled in every… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberties. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some… — 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
When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The evidence of [the] natural right [of expatriation], like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the… — 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
Students of reading, writing and common arithmetick . . . Graecian [Greek], Roman, English and American history . . . should be… — 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
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 spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. . . . [are] the sole objects of all legitimate… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I sincerely join you in abjuring all political connection with every foreign power; and tho I cordially wish well to the progress… — 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
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
![“The following [addition to the Bill of Rights] would have pleased me: The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or otherwise to publish anything but false facts affecting injuriously the life, liberty or reputation of others, or affecting the peace of the…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a40/thomas-jefferson-43_bill-of-rights_the-following-addition-to-the-bill-of-ri_638662.jpg)
![“The evidence of [the] natural right [of expatriation], like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the pursuit of happiness, is not left to the feeble and sophistical investigations of reason, but is impressed on the sense of every man. We do not claim these under the…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ad1/thomas-jefferson-43_charter_the-evidence-of-the-natural-right-of-exp_2308565.jpg)
![“Students of reading, writing and common arithmetick . . . Graecian [Greek], Roman, English and American history . . . should be rendered . . . worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0f1/thomas-jefferson-43_able_students-of-reading-writing-and-common-a_1559038.jpg)
![“The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. . . . [are] the sole objects of all legitimate government. A plaque with this quotation, with the first phrase omitted, is in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a78/thomas-jefferson-43_firsts_the-main-objects-of-all-science-the-free_1587799.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)
