I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
THOMAS JEFFERSONThe spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.
More Thomas Jefferson Quotes
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Be polite to all, but intimate with few.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
If you want something you’ve never had, You must be willing to do something you’ve never done.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
All should be laid open to you without reserve, for there is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I cannot live without books.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Good wine is a necessity of life for me.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Never trouble another with what you can do yourself.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
When angry, count 10. before you speak; if very angry, 100.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
It is an axiom in my mind, that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the State to effect, and on a general plan.
THOMAS JEFFERSON