All Thomas Jefferson Quotes
- The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood. Abandon
- Religion is a subject on which I have ever been most scrupulously reserved. I have considered it as a matter between every man and his… Been
- The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of… All
- Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to God alone. Accountability
- It is time enough, for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere [in the propagation of religious teachings] when principles break… Acts
- No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former… Bad
- Every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should enforce on him. All
- I... [am] convinced [man] has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. Civil Rights
- There is a debt of service due from every man to his country, proportioned to the bounties which nature and fortune have measured to him. Bounties
- 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… Acknowledge
- The man who loves his country on its own account, and not merely for its trappings of interest or power, can never be divorced for… Account
- It behooves our citizens to be on their guard, to be firm in their principles, and full of confidence in themselves. We are able to… Able
- Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty. Civil Rights
- I am entirely persuaded that the agitations of the public mind advance its powers, and that at every vibration between the points of liberty and… Advance
- The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights, and are the only instruments which can be used for their… Avoid
- The most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at… Age
- Most codes extend their definitions of treason to acts not really against one's country. They do not distinguish between acts against the government, and acts… Acts
- Time indeed changes manners and notions, and so far we must expect institutions to bend to them. But time produces also corruption of principles, and… Bend
- The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out… Better
- A single good government becomes... a blessing to the whole earth, its welcome to the oppressed restraining within certain limits the measure of their oppressions.… Becomes
- A first attempt to recover the right of self government may fail, so may a second, a third, etc. But as a younger and more… All
- A government regulating itself by what is wise and just for the many, uninfluenced by the local and selfish views of the few who direct… Affair
- 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 flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of… All
- The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. Course