“It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice.”

Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other.

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.

Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.

Never spend your money before you have it.

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves ; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion.

An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.

Take things always by their smooth handle.

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Never trouble another with what you can do yourself.

History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.

Human action is governed largely by instinct and emotion.

Our government is built upon the vote. But votes that are purchasable are quicksands, and a government built on them stands upon corruption and revolution.

The more a race is governed by its passions, the less it has acquired the habit of cautious and reasoned argument, the more intense will be its love of music.

A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.

I hate government. I’m apolitical. Write that down. I’m not a Republican.

Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence is a practical document for the use of practical men. It is not a thesis for philosophers, but a whip for tyrants; it is not a theory of government but a program of action.

There is no liberty to men who know not how to govern themselves.

What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind.