Quotes About Thomas Jefferson

Questioning our government's actions does not violate the principles of liberty, equality, and freedom of speech; it exercises them, and by exercise we grow stronger. I have read enough of Thomas Jefferson to feel sure

These principles empower the Constitution with a timeless strength, even in the midst of social ambiguity and change. "Our peculiar security," said Thomas Jefferson, "is in the possession of a written Constitution.

Self-love . . . is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others.

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

Thomas Jefferson Day, the anniversary of the third president's birth.

A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. In order to flourish, the tree of Liberty needs the blood of patriots and tyrants.

It is in the love of one's family only that heartfelt happiness is known.

The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them, they cannot love us.

Thomas Jefferson: "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, 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."1

Under the Constitution, our government follows the model set out by Thomas Jefferson: "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, 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.

To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions is a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. — Thomas Jefferson

I often wonder what Thomas Jefferson would say about the present course of human events if he were alive today. Would he be alarmed at the present trend towards liberalism and big-government control? Would Thomas Jefferson subscribe to the popular doctrine of political correctness, or would he rail against it? I think Thomas Jefferson would tilt his head to one side and ask, 'What part of self-evident didn't you understand?

It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also.

It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood.

Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error.

Negotiating with a representative of the Libyan pirates in 1786, Thomas Jefferson was told that the Quran commanded the destruction of all nonbelievers, Americans included. And yet, when President Thomas Jefferson later made war on Libya, he dreamed of transforming it into a democracy.

Without his books, Thomas Jefferson could not have been Thomas Jefferson. For someone like him living on a frontier, remote from actual experience, books were vital guides to how life might be lived, and none gave him greater inspiration, satisfaction

We are not living up to Thomas Jefferson's idea of what a trial by jury means.

Thomas Jefferson taught that a democracy was impractical unless the people were educated.

In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson called slavery "a cruel war against human nature itself."1 James Madison argued that "it would be wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men."2 Benjamin Franklin, a former slaveholder, described slavery as "an atrocious debasement of human nature."3 But in the early days of the republic, slavery remained legal, the law of the land.

As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurean . I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us. [ Letter to William Short, 31 October 1819 ]

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.

Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.

Thomas Jefferson asked himself "In what country on earth would you rather live " He first answered "Certainly in my own where are all my friends my relations and the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my life." But he continued "which would be your second choice " His answer "France.