All Thomas Jefferson Quotes
- Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree. Agree
- Independence can be trusted nowhere but with the people in mass. They are inherently independent of all but moral law. All
- With nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties. Calculated
- I shall rejoin myself to my native country, with new attachments, and with exaggerated esteem for its advantages; for though there is less wealth there,… Advantage
- The steady character of our countrymen is a rock to which we may safely moor; and notwithstanding the efforts of the papers to disseminate early… Able
- The moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing. Constitution
- If our country, when pressed with wrongs at the point of the bayonet, had been governed by its heads instead of its hearts, where should… American Revolution
- Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that,… American Revolution
- Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act. Act
- I join cordially in admiring and revering the Constitution of the United States, the result of the collected wisdom of our country. That wisdom has… Admiring
- [T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore . . . never to see all… All
- 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… Act
- A rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive. Absolute
- It is a wise rule and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same time to restrain the… Annually
- But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that… Age
- The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning… Beyond
- The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public… Dispensation
- I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty. All
- War is not the best engine for us to resort to; nature has given us one in our commerce, which if properly managed, will be… Best
- It should be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and friendship of every nation . . . . Our interest will be to throw open… All
- Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never… Act
- Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen, people, whose breasts he has made his… Breasts
- I suppose, indeed, that in public life, a man whose political principles have any decided character and who has energy enough to give them effect… Adverse
- My confidence is that there will for a long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses. Abuse
- The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society. And indeed it would… Aristocracy