Choice by the people themselves is not generally distinguished for its wisdom. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The spirit of 1776 is not dead. It had only been slumbering. The body of the American people is substantially republican. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The people are not always well-informed, but is better that they have misconceptions that make them restless than that they be lethargic-for… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils of misgovernment. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
All authority belongs to the people... In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Above all I hope that the education of the common people will be attended to so they won't forget the basic principles… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is Mortifying to suppose it possible that a people able and zealous to contend with the Enemy should be reduced to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
A noiseless course, not meddling with the affairs of others, unattractive of notice, is a mark that society is going on in… — 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
The interests of the States... ought to be made joint in every possible instance in order to cultivate the idea of our… — 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
The Petition of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Chapman Johnson, Joseph C. Cabell, James Breckenridge, John Hartwell Cocke, and Robert Taylor the Rector… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
To constrain the brute force of the people, the European governments deem it necessary to keep them down by hard labor, poverty… — 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
I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In the legislature, the House of Representatives is chosen by less than half the people, and not at all in proportion to… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian… — 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
What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their… — 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
I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as… — 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
Government as well as religion has furnished its schisms, its persecutions and its devices for fattening idleness on the earnings of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The sickly, weakly, timid man fears the people, and is a Tory by nature. The healthy, strong and bold cherishes them, and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
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
The people are the only censors of their governors, and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The love of justice and the love of country plead equally the cause of these people, and it is a moral reproach… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I like the power given the Legislature to levy taxes, and for that reason solely approve of the greater house being chosen… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The people cannot be all, and always well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
There is not a single crowned head in Europe whose talents or merit would entitle him to be elected a vestryman by… — 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
![“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/7a2/thomas-jefferson-43_4th-of-july_a-free-people-claim-their-rights-as-deri_1508457.jpg)
![“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)
![“[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)
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