Thomas Jefferson Quotes And Sayings

Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Prior thereto, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States (1797–1801), serving under John Adams from 1797 to 1801. A proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights motivating American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation, he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level.

Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom.

In Matters Of Style, Swim With The Current; In Matters Of Principle, Stand Like A Rock.

Money, Not Morality, Is The Principle Commerce Of Civilized Nations.

If The Present Congress Errs In Too Much Talking, How Can It Be Otherwise In A Body To Which The People Send One Hundred And Fifty Lawyers, Whose Trade It Is To Question Everything, Yield Nothing, And Talk By The Hour?

I Am An Epicurean. I Consider The Genuine (Not The Imputed) Doctrines Of Epicurus As Containing Everything Rational In Moral Philosophy Which Greek And Roman Leave To Us.

One Travels More Usefully When Alone, Because He Reflects More.

To Penetrate And Dissipate These Clouds Of Darkness, The General Mind Must Be Strengthened By Education.

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.

We Did Not Raise Armies For Glory Or For Conquest.

As Our Enemies Have Found We Can Reason Like Men, So Now Let Us Show Them We Can Fight Like Men Also.

Wisdom I Know Is Social. She Seeks Her Fellows. But Beauty Is Jealous, And Illy Bears The Presence Of A Rival.

The Republican Is The Only Form Of Government Which Is Not Eternally At Open Or Secret War With The Rights Of Mankind.

The Tree Of Liberty Must Be Refreshed From Time To Time With The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants.

The Constitutions Of Most Of Our States Assert That All Power Is Inherent In The People; That... It Is Their Right And Duty To Be At All Times Armed.

None But An Armed Nation Can Dispense With A Standing Army. To Keep Ours Armed And Disciplined Is Therefore At All Times Important.

I Sincerely Believe... That Banking Establishments Are More Dangerous Than Standing Armies.

Truth Is Certainly A Branch Of Morality And A Very Important One To Society.

I Have Sworn Upon The Altar Of God, Eternal Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man.

Commerce With All Nations, Alliance With None, Should Be Our Motto.

Books Constitute Capital. A Library Book Lasts As Long As A House, For Hundreds Of Years. It Is Not, Then, An Article Of Mere Consumption But Fairly Of Capital, And Often In The Case Of Professional Men, Setting Out In Life, It Is Their Only Capital.

The Second Office In The Government Is Honorable And Easy; The First Is But A Splendid Misery.

The Good Opinion Of Mankind, Like The Lever Of Archimedes, With The Given Fulcrum, Moves The World.

No Duty The Executive Had To Perform Was So Trying As To Put The Right Man In The Right Place.

A Coward Is Much More Exposed To Quarrels Than A Man Of Spirit.

When Angry Count To Ten Before You Speak. If Very Angry, Count To One Hundred.

It Is Error Alone Which Needs The Support Of Government. Truth Can Stand By Itself.

How Much Pain They Have Cost Us, The Evils Which Have Never Happened.

The Earth Belongs To The Living, Not To The Dead.

War Is An Instrument Entirely Inefficient Toward Redressing Wrong; And Multiplies, Instead Of Indemnifying Losses.

The Natural Progress Of Things Is For Liberty To Yield And Government To Gain Ground.

Force Is The Vital Principle And Immediate Parent Of Despotism.

In Every Country And Every Age, The Priest Had Been Hostile To Liberty.

We Are Not To Expect To Be Translated From Despotism To Liberty In A Featherbed.

Walking Is The Best Possible Exercise. Habituate Yourself To Walk Very Far.

I Own That I Am Not A Friend To A Very Energetic Government. It Is Always Oppressive.

Merchants Have No Country. The Mere Spot They Stand On Does Not Constitute So Strong An Attachment As That From Which They Draw Their Gains.

There Is Not A Truth Existing Which I Fear... Or Would Wish Unknown To The Whole World.

Timid Men Prefer The Calm Of Despotism To The Tempestuous Sea Of Liberty.

Always Take Hold Of Things By The Smooth Handle.

He Who Knows Nothing Is Closer To The Truth Than He Whose Mind Is Filled With Falsehoods And Errors.

Advertisements Contain The Only Truths To Be Relied On In A Newspaper.

If There Is One Principle More Deeply Rooted In The Mind Of Every American, It Is That We Should Have Nothing To Do With Conquest.

The Most Successful War Seldom Pays For Its Losses.

The Spirit Of This Country Is Totally Adverse To A Large Military Force.

An Injured Friend Is The Bitterest Of Foes.

Rightful Liberty Is Unobstructed Action According To Our Will Within Limits Drawn Around Us By The Equal Rights Of Others. I Do Not Add 'Within The Limits Of The Law' Because Law Is Often But The Tyrant's Will, And Always So When It Violates The Rights Of The Individual.

Be Polite To All, But Intimate With Few.

I Have Seen Enough Of One War Never To Wish To See Another.

I Have No Fear That The Result Of Our Experiment Will Be That Men May Be Trusted To Govern Themselves Without A Master.

My Theory Has Always Been, That If We Are To Dream, The Flatteries Of Hope Are As Cheap, And Pleasanter, Than The Gloom Of Despair.