Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, serving under John Adams from 1797 to 1801. A proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights motivating American colonists
to break from Great Britain and form a new nation, he produced
formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level.
He was a land owner and farmer.(from Wikipedia)
VARIOUS QUOTES BY THOMAS JEFFERSON
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I would rather be judged by 12 farmers than 12 scholars.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
― Thomas Jefferson
“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” ― Thomas Jefferson
“On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry…” ― Thomas Jefferson
“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.” – Thomas Jefferson
“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.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” – Thomas Jefferson
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson
“An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” –Thomas Jefferson
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” – Thomas Jefferson
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” – Thomas Jefferson
“For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Without God, liberty will not last.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.” –Thomas Jefferson
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” – Thomas Jefferson
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Sir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man, and I as chief magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example.” –Thomas Jefferson
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I cannot live without books.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Information is the currency of democracy.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.” – Thomas Jefferson
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies… The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
“Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” – Thomas Jefferson
“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.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.” –Thomas Jefferson
“I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.” – Thomas Jefferson
“He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.” – Thomas Jefferson
“That government is best which governs least” – Thomas Jefferson
“One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” –Thomas Jefferson
“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.” – Thomas Jefferson
