...is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent reliance? ...the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Though written constitutions may be violated in moments of passion or delusion, yet they furnish a text to which those who are… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I was much an enemy to monarchies before I came to Europe. I am ten thousand times more so, since I have… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
If there be any among us who wish to dissolve the Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
That this privilege of giving or of withholding our monies is an important barrier against the undue exertion of prerogative, which if… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Perhaps it will be found that to obtain a just republic (and it is to secure our just rights that we resort… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
History by apprising them [the people] of the past will enable them to judge of the future. . . . It will… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that, considering numbers, nature,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I acknowledge that such a debt [of service to my fellow-citizens] exists, that a tour of duty in whatever line he can… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is (our) duty . . . to pay especial attention to the principles of government which shall be inculcated therein (at… — 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
Up until the late unpleasantness of the Civil war, then, the right of secession was more or less taken for granted in… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every society has a right to fix the fundamental principles of its association, and to say to all individuals, that if they… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless... From the conclusion of this… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
You and I have formerly seen warm debates and high political passions. But gentlemen of different politics would then speak to each… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I sincerely wish you may find it convenient to come here. the pleasure of the trip will be less than you expect,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
May [our Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later,… — 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
I do most anxiously wish to see the highest degrees of education given to the higher degrees of genius and to all… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The future inhabitants of [both] the Atlantic and Mississippi states will be our sons. We think we see their happiness in their… — 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
Still less, let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I have been happy . . . in believing that . . . whatever follies we may be led into as to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Our public credit is good, but the abundance of paper has produced a spirit of gambling in the funds, which has laid… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The mass of our citizens may be divided into two classes -- the laboring and the learned. The laboring will need the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
You have lived longer than I have and perhaps may have formed a different judgment on better grounds; but my observations do… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Those characters wherein fear predominates over hope may apprehend too much from...instances of irregularity. They may conclude too hastily that nature has… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The attempt of Lavoisier to reform chemical nomenclature is premature. One single experiment may destroy the whole filiation of his terms; and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am already sensible of decay in the power of walking, and find my memory not so faithful as it used to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes which may greatly afflict us; and,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I see now our fireside formed into a groupe, no one member of which has a fibre in their composition which can… — 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
![“History by apprising them [the people] of the past will enable them to judge of the future. . . . It will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men: it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f41/thomas-jefferson-43_action_history-by-apprising-them-the-people-of_1568717.jpg)
![“I acknowledge that such a debt [of service to my fellow-citizens] exists, that a tour of duty in whatever line he can be most useful to his country, is due from every individual. It is not easy perhaps to say of what length exactly that tour should be, but we may safely say of what length it…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/526/thomas-jefferson-43_acknowledge_i-acknowledge-that-such-a-debt-of-servic_2508145.jpg)
![“May [our Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b66/thomas-jefferson-43_assuming_may-our-declaration-of-independence-be-t_1692808.jpg)
![“The future inhabitants of [both] the Atlantic and Mississippi states will be our sons. We think we see their happiness in their union, and we wish it. Events may prove otherwise; and if they see their interest in separating why should we take sides? God bless them both, and keep them in union if…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d56/thomas-jefferson-43_bless_the-future-inhabitants-of-both-the-atlan_1303483.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)
