100+ Thomas Jefferson Famous Quotes That Inspire Freedom & Wisdom

"Freedom is the gift of God, and it is the inalienable right of man."

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

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

"Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe."

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits."

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

"The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right."

"In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too secure a government."

"That government is best which governs least."

"Experience hath shown that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others."

"My reading of history convinces me that a just government founded on the will of the people cannot be overthrown by a foreign enemy."

"There is not a more important subject which engrosses my mind than that of the public debt."

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."

"I am not a friend to a very active government. It is always oppressive."

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have."

"The minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect."

"It is a fatal heresy to suppose that either our rulers are infallible, or that they are more infallible than the people at large."

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."

"Knowledge is power, knowledge is safety, knowledge is happiness."

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

"The qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. They are the result of habit and long training."

"I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most likely to advance the security of a free and equal government."

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."

"Information is the currency of democracy."

"The bill for establishing religious freedom... has been truly a reformation."

"Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence."

"The groundwork of all future greatness lies in education."

"An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people."

"No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation."

"Religious freedom is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights."

"I have ever believed that the religion of Jesus is founded in reason, justice, and benevolence."

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

"I am a Christian, in the only sense in which He wished any one to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others."

"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law, and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against liberty."

"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity."

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."

"The moral duties which Christianity teaches are part of the purest system of ethics known to men."

"I prefer the Deism of Epictetus to the Atheism of Hobbes."

"Superstition is the religion of feeble minds."

"The Bible contains many excellent things, but also many interpolations and falsifications."

"I am not afraid of the priests. They have been more afraid of me."

"The people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution."

"Democracy is the only form of government which is based on the consent of the governed."

"The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government."

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."

"We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear-bought experience."

"The people, not the government, possess the power."

"Elected functionaries are servants, not masters."

"The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact."

"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty."

"Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence."

"No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will."

"The care of human life and happiness is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."

"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors."

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

"One person with courage is a majority."

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."

"I find that the harder I work, the more I have of luck."

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."

"Be polite to all, but intimate with few."

"The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes which may greatly afflict us."

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

"Silence is the most powerful weapon of mass deception."

"Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind."

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind."

"Newspapers now enable every individual to obtain knowledge before confined to the few."

"The art of life is the art of avoiding pain; and the number one rule is, never marry."

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

"What has been will be again; what has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun."

"The way to get rich is to save your money, not to spend it."

"The improvement of the condition of man is a desirable object."

"Technology is the key to unlocking human potential."

"The earth belongs to the living, not the dead."

"Progress requires experimentation, and experimentation requires risk."

"The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others, we cease to be free."

"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy."

"War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrongs."

"The barbarous sword of war never entitles the victor to the possession of the vanquished."

"It should be our endeavor to cultivate peace and friendship with all nations."

"The longest war cannot impoverish a patient people who are determined to be free."

"Permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world are unwise."

"To preserve peace, we must be ready for war."

"No nation was ever ruined by trade."

"Commerce unites interests across the globe and makes war a losing proposition."

"We desire to live in peace with all nations."

"The cost of war is not merely measured in lives, but in liberty."

"Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."

"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God."

"Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens."

"The small landholders are the most precious part of a state."

"The love of cultivation is common to all men, and is the most ennobling of employments."

"While we have land to labor, then let us never wish to see our citizens occupied in pursuit of wealth in the marts of commerce."

"The health of our people is the primary interest of government."

"Nature intended the earth for the use of the living, not the dead."

"The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."

"Gardening is the exercise of hope."

"I have often thought that nothing would do more extensive good at small expense than the establishment of a small circulating library in every county."

"The profit of agriculture is superior to all other occupations."

"The small family farm is the backbone of a free republic."

"Determine never to be idle. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."

"The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family."

"I find letters are the best medicine for a sick mind."

"Time wasted is existence; used, is life."

"In matters of fashion, follow the world; in matters of morals, lead it."

"Death is not a tragedy, for all must die, but the life unlived is."

"Live within your means, whether you have little or much."

"Friendship is reciprocal good will."

"The value of life lies not in its duration, but in its donation."

"I cannot live without books."

"I have found that the greater part of unhappiness in life arises from false estimates of the value of things."

"The goal of life is happiness, not power, not wealth, not fame."