Thomas Jefferson
United States
13 Apr 1743 // 4 Jul 1826
Statesman, Politician
13 Apr 1743 // 4 Jul 1826
Statesman, Politician
Quotes
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Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
Notes on the State of Virginia
He who permits himself to tell a lie once finds it much easier to do it a second and third time till at length it becomes habitual.
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?
First Inaugural Address
Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty.
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.
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry, too.
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
Agriculture, manufactures, commerce and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays