The excellence of every government is its adaptation to the state of those to be governed by it. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The States should be left to do whatever acts they can do as well as the general government. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The constitution of the United States is the result of the collected wisdom of our country. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I believe the states can best govern our home concerns and the federal government our foreign ones. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
An individual, thinking himself injured, makes more noise than a State. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
War has been avoided from a due sense of the miseries, and the demoralization it produces, and of the superior blessings of… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
It is not too soon to provide by every possible means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion… — 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
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
What an augmentation of the field for jobbing, speculating, plundering, office-building and office-hunting would be produced by an assumption of all the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am tired of a life of contention, and of being the personal object for the hatred of every man, who hates… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We could in the United States make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
That the several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
When the representative body have lost the confidence of their constituents, when they have notoriously made sale of their most valuable rights,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States, that is to say, 'to lay taxes for the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I have been long sensible that while I was endeavoring to render our country the greatest of all services, that of regenerating… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Turning, then, from this loathsome combination of church and state, and weeping over the follies of our fellow men, who yield themselves… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles . The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
We have no paupers ... The great mass of our [United States] population is of laborers; our rich, who can live without… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I see,... and with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing towards the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I join cordially in admiring and revering the Constitution of the United States, the result of the collected wisdom of our country.… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I am not fully informed of the practices at Harvard, but there is one from which we shall certainly vary, although it… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
But the Chief Justice says, 'There must be an ultimate arbiter somewhere.' True, there must; but does that prove it is either… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I trust there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I believe the states can best govern our home concerns, and the general government our foreign ones. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The States should be urged to concede to the General Government, with a saving of chartered rights, the exclusive power of establishing… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
By [the] operations [of public improvement] new channels of communication will be opened between the States; the lines of separation will disappear,… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and in-grafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
State a moral case to a plowman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the… — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share Image
I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe… They are… — 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
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
[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
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
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
“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
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
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
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
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
Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. — Thomas Jefferson Copy Share
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
“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
![“The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption - a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/759/thomas-jefferson-43_adoption_the-constitution-on-which-our-union-rest_929558.jpg)
![“We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles . The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/thomas-jefferson-43_2-amendment_we-established-however-some-although-not_2082638.jpg)
![“We have no paupers ... The great mass of our [United States] population is of laborers; our rich, who can live without labor, either manual or professional, being few, and of moderate wealth. Most of the laboring class possess property, cultivate their own lands, have families, and from the demand…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d26/thomas-jefferson-43_class_we-have-no-paupers-the-great-mass-of-our_389092.jpg)
![“By [the] operations [of public improvement] new channels of communication will be opened between the States; the lines of separation will disappear, their interests will be identified, and their union cemented by new and indissoluble ties.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7e/thomas-jefferson-43_communication_by-the-operations-of-public-improvement_656637.jpg)
