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 JEFFERSONDifference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other.
More Thomas Jefferson Quotes
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I think one travels more usefully when they travel alone, because they reflect more.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I cannot live without books.
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 -
Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
We have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoyments because he is of another church.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
No people can be both ignorant and free.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
When angry, count 10. before you speak; if very angry, 100.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The only security of all is in a free press.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
Never put off to tomorrow what you can do to-day.
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 -
The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.
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 -
What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment and death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.
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 -
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
The 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.
THOMAS JEFFERSON -
I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
THOMAS JEFFERSON