All Thomas Jefferson Quotes
- I believe that justice is instinct and innate, that the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing,… Animal
- Nature [has] implanted in our breasts a love of others, a sense of duty to them, a moral instinct, in short, which prompts us irresistibly… Breasts
- Men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them. Disposed
- Our part is to pursue with steadiness what is right, turning neither to right nor left for the intrigues or popular delusions of the day,… Approbation
- When we come to the moral principles on which the government is to be administered, we come to what is proper for all conditions of… Administered
- Principle will, in... most... cases open the way for us to correct conclusion. Cases
- I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man. Consider
- The human character, we believe, requires in general constant and immediate control to prevent its being biased from right by the seductions of self-love. Believe
- In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open,… Corruption
- It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine well his… Decides
- Those characters wherein fear predominates over hope may apprehend too much from...instances of irregularity. They may conclude too hastily that nature has formed man insusceptible… Any
- Lay down true principles and adhere to them inflexibly. Do not be frightened into their surrender by the alarms of the timid, or the croakings… Adhere
- It is unfortunate that the efforts of mankind to recover the freedom of which they have been so long deprived, will be accompanied with violence,… Accompanied
- All power is inherent in the people. All
- It is a happy circumstance in human affairs that evils which are not cured in one way will cure themselves in some other. Affair
- From the nature of things, every society must at all times possess within itself the sovereign powers of legislation. All
- The mass of the citizens is the safest depositary of their own rights. Citizens
- Democrats consider the people as the safest depository of power in the last resort; they cherish them, therefore, and wish to leave in them all… All
- Aristocrats fear the people, and wish to transfer all power to the higher classes of society. All
- No government can continue good, but under the control of the people. Continue
- The people, especially when moderately instructed, are the only safe, because the only honest, depositaries of the public rights, and should therefore be introduced into… Accidentally
- There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and… Aristocracy
- No other depositories of power [but the people themselves] have ever yet been found, which did not end in converting to their own profit the… Been
- Experience has proved to us that a dollar of silver disappears for every dollar of paper emitted. Disappear
- Specie [gold and silver coin] is the most perfect medium because it will preserve its own level; because, having intrinsic and universal value, it can… Coin