Thomas Jefferson quotes - page 10

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. (Thomas Jefferson)
Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
An elective despotism was not the government we fought for. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as of duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry. View quote
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)
The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution. They are not among the powers specially enumerated. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
The only security of all is in a free press. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
no people can be both ignorant and free. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
A great deal of love given to a few is better than a little to many. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry. (Thomas Jefferson)
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands. As long therefore as they can find employment in this line, I would not convert them into mariners, artisans, or any thing else. But our citizens will find employment in this line till their numbers, and of course their productions, become too great for the demand both internal and foreign. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
They have retired into the Judiciary as a stronghold. There the remains of federalism are to be preserved and fed from the Treasury; and from that battery all the works of republicanism are to be beaten down and erased. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
You ask if I mean to publish anything on the subject of a letter of mine to my friend Charles Thompson? Certainly not. I write nothing for publication, and last of all things should it be on the subject of religion. On the dogmas of religion as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Were I to enter on that arena, I should only add an unit to the number of Bedlamites. View quote
Thomas Jefferson
A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life. View quote
Thomas Jefferson