Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Thomas Jefferson US President

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Apr 13, 1743
  • Died: Jul 4, 1826

Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. He was a spokesman for democracy, and embraced the principles of republicanism and the rights of the individual with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia, and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France and later the first United States Secretary of State serving under President George Washington. In opposition to Alexander Hamilton's Federalism, Jefferson and his close friend, James Madison, organized the Democratic-Republican Party, and later resigned from Washington's cabinet. Elected Vice President in 1796 in the administration of John Adams, Jefferson opposed Adams, and with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.

The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.

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

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

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

Never spend your money before you have earned it.

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

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

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

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

It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.

History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

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

As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

I have no ambition to govern men it is a painful and thankless office.

I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.

My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.

When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

The second office in the government is honorable and easy the first is but a splendid misery.

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.

There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

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

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.

For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.

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

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Power is not alluring to pure minds.

It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival.

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

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

In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.

It is neither wealth nor splendor but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

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

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

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.

I find that he is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

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

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

There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.

Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.

One man with courage is a majority.

If God is just, I tremble for my country.

Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.

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

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none.