Quotes from Thomas Jefferson

The man who would choose security over freedom deserves neither.

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

Free men do not ask permission to bear arms

The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.

I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man.

I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.

All authority belongs to the people... In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief with chains of the Constitution.

No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only. If our government ever fails, it will be from this weakness.

The press is the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational, moral and social being

But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.

The possession of facts is knowledge; the use of them is wisdom.

We see the wisdom of Solon's remark, that no more good must be attempted than the nation can bear.

I sincerely believe... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.

Most men die at age 25, but aren't buried until 70.

Every man has two countries: his own and France.

The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.

I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man.

Questions of natural right are triable by their conformity with the moral sense and reason of man.

Man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others do.

No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.

I love to see honest and honorable men at the helm, men who will not bend their politics to their purses, nor pursue measures by which they may profit, and then profit by their measures.