« All Revolution Quotes · Thomas Jefferson's Page
Revolution Quotes by Thomas Jefferson
- I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that, considering numbers, nature, and natural means…
- This formidable censor of the public functionaries [the press], by arraigning them at the tribunal of public opinion, produces reform peaceably, which must otherwise be…
- One war, such as that of our Revolution, is enough for one life.
- 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…
- 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,…
- The foundation on which (our government is) built is the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence but that annexed to legal office,…
- That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people…
- Should [reformers] attempt more than the established habits of the people are ripe for, they may lose all and retard indefinitely the ultimate object of…
- To be really useful, we must keep pace with the state of society, and not dishearten it by attempts at what its population, means, or…
- No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see... all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what…
- A little revolution is a good thing.
- The day is not distant when we must bear and adopt [the abolition of slavery], or worse will follow.
- Never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration; never saw even an elemental trait of…
- The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them, they…
- On the subject of the history of the American Revolution, you ask who shall write it? Who can write it? And who will ever be…
- All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.
- Do not be too severe upon the errors of the people, but reclaim them by enlightening them.
- We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore…
- Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.
- I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the…
- I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.
- Every generation needs a new revolution.
- Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the…
More Revolution Quotes
- The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution. — Hannah Arendt
- Revolutionaries do not make revolutions. The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and then they can… — Hannah Arendt
- The more dubious and uncertain an instrument violence has become in international relations, the more it has gained in reputation and appeal… — Hannah Arendt
- Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind… — Aristotle
- Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that's where it's really… — Bill Ayers
- The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards. — Irving Babbitt
- Robespierre, however, was not the type of leader finally destined to emerge from the Revolution. — Irving Babbitt
- To my utter despair I have discovered, and discover every day anew, that there is in the masses no revolutionary idea or… — Mikhail Bakunin
- My point has always been that, ever since the Industrial Revolution, science fiction has been the most important genre there is. — Iain Banks
- Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. — Henry Adams
- In art there are only fast or slow developments. Essentially it is a matter of evolution, not revolution. — Bela Bartok
- The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the… — John Quincy Adams