Quotes from Thomas Jefferson

I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.

Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.

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

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.

Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.

Of all calamities this is the greatest.

The sword of the law should never fall but on those whose guilt is so apparent as to be pronounced by their friends as well as foes.

The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.

The execution of the laws is more important than the making of them.

It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail.

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.

No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any.

It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion.

If I could not go to Heaven but with a party I would not go there at all.

The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on office, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

A republican government is slow to move, yet when once in motion, its momentum becomes irresistible.

Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.

The hole and the patch should be commensurate.

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.