Quotes from Thomas Jefferson

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.

Still one thing more, fellow citizens—a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival.

I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.

Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

If God is just, I tremble for my country.

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.

[On slavery:] We have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

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.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

Is uniformity [of opinion] attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.

When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.

It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.

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

Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.

The second office in the government is honorable and easy the first is but a splendid misery.

If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.

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