Thomas Jefferson Quotes

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Information is the currency of democracy.

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

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

I know of 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, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

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

I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

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.

I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.