Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The genuine and simple religion of Jesus will one day be restored: such as it was preached and practiced by Himself.

Do not be too severe upon the errors of the people, but reclaim them by enlightening them.

never trust a man who won't accept that there is more than one way to spell a word Paraphrased

I am a sect by myself, as far as I know.

A great deal of love given to a few is better than a little to many.

...We are all Federalists,and we are all Republicans.

Without books, I would certainly die.

[The People] are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty.

Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to God alone.

Every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should enforce on him.

The liberty of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood?

This ball of liberty, I believe most piously, is now so well in motion that it will roll round the globe. at least the enlightened part of it, for light & liberty go together.

The cement of this union is in the heart blood of every American. I do not believe there is on earth a government established on so immovable a basis.

It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion.

Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself.

Honesty, disinterestedness and good nature are indispensable to procure the esteem and confidence of those with whom we live, and on whose esteem our happiness depends.

My affections were first for my own country, then, generally, for all mankind

Health is the requisite after morality

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle grateful that they are not worse rather than the rough handle, bitter that they are not better.

We might have been a free and great people together.

The only true corrective of Constitutional abuses is education.

The interests of a nation, when well understood, will be found to coincide with their moral duties.

We act not for ourselves but for the whole human race. The event of our experiment is to show whether man can be trusted with self - government.

Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindred and tongues.

Never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration; never saw even an elemental trait of painting or sculpture.

It is my disposition to maintain peace until its condition shall be made less tolerable than that of war itself.

From breakfast, or noon at the latest, to dinner, I am mostly on horseback, Attending to My Farm or other concerns, which I find healthful to my body, mind, and affairs.

Travelling is good for your health and necessary for your amusement.

It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.

One had rather have no opinion than a false one.

Every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will.

Who better to so softly bind the wound of one, than she who has suffered the wound herself.

Government governed least is government governed best.

That one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected.

If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.

Those are governed best who are governed least.

The only greater [evil] than separation... [is] living under a government of discretion.

We must train and classify the whole of our male citizens, and make military instruction a regular part of collegiate education.

Those who have once got an ascendancy, and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their advantage.

When an instrument admits two constructions, the one safe, the other dangerous, the one precise, the other indefinite, I prefer that which is safe and precise.

It is wonderful to me that old men should not be sensible that their minds keep pace with their bodies in the progress of decay.

There is a fulness of time when men should go, and not occupy too long the ground to which others have a right to advance.

My religious reading has long been confined to the moral branch of religion, which is the same in all religions; while in that branch which consists of dogmas, all differ[.

What all agree upon is probably right; what no two agree in most probably is wrong.

We generally learn languages for the benefit of reading the books written in them

By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another as his enemy.

A community of small farmers... land property owners, will be the only assurance that the freedom our republic offers will be guaranteed to each and every citizen.

We are completely saddled and bridled, and... the bank is so firmly mounted on us that we must go where it will guide.

A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful Land, traversing all the seas with the rich production of their Industry.

Communities should be planned with an eye to the effect on the human spirit of being continually surrounded by a maximum of beauty.