Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.

I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial.

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

Of all the cankers of human happiness, none corrodes it with so silent, yet so baneful, a tooth, as indolence.

If you want something you've never hadYou must be willing to do something you've never done.

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.

The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years.

If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do.

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

He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time.

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

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

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family, and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.

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

Every generation needs a new revolution.

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

I cannot live without books.

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.

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

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.

In matters of principle, stand like a rock.

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

In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led.

The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution.

A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

A free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

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

Equal rights for all, special privileges for none.

If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.

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

When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality.

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

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

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

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

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

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.

The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.

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

I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

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

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.

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.

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

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

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

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

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse.

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.

Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.

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

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

The only security of all is in a free press.

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

Never spend your money before you have earned it.

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

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

I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.

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

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

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

The art of life is the art of avoiding pain.

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

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

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

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

Information is the currency of democracy.

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

We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

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

The government is best which governs least.

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

The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.

Independence now, and independence forever!

Independence forever.

Every human has four endowments - self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have

I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.

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

Nếu bạn định trở thành một người học giả, bạn phải bắt đầu từ lớp học.

Thay vì đợi cơ hội, hãy tạo ra nó.

Với tôi, vầng sáng của một ý nghĩ ấm áp đáng giá hơn nhiều tiền bạc.

Không gì có thể ngăn cản người có thái độ tinh thần đúng đạt được mục tiêu của mình; không gì có thể giúp người có thái độ tinh thần sai.

Hạnh phúc là khi cơ thể không đau đớn và tâm trí không muộn phiền.

Thể diện làm ta tiêu tốn nhiều hơn là cơn đói, cơn khát hay giá rét.

Đừng bao giờ làm phiền người khác với những gì bạn có thể tự làm.

Người biết rõ nhất biết rằng mình biết ít đến thế nào.

Bất cứ khi nào bạn làm điều gì, hãy hành xử như thể cả thế giới đều đang quan sát.

Hãy cứ suy nghĩ như bạn muốn, và để yên cho người khác cũng làm như thế, và sẽ không có tranh cãi.

Biển tự do sôi sục chẳng bao giờ thiếu sóng.

Hạnh phúc lớn lao nhất của ta không phụ thuộc vào điều kiện sống ta được may rủi đặt vào, mà nó luôn luôn là kết quả của việc theo đuổi một cách chính đáng lương tâm trong sạch, sức khỏe tốt, nghề nghiệp, và tự do.

Ta không bao giờ hối hận vì ăn quá ít.

Nếu bạn muốn thứ gì đó bạn chưa bao giờ có, bạn phải sẵn sàng làm điều bạn chưa bao giờ làm.

Hãy coi trọng những đồng xu của bạn: Những đồng đô la sẽ tự dưỡng mình.

Đừng cắn miếng mồi lạc thú, chừng nào bạn chưa biết chắc rằng không có lưỡi câu bên dưới.

Hãy lịch sự với tất cả, nhưng chỉ thân mật với ít người.

Tôi thích những giấc mơ về tương lai hơn là lịch sử quá khứ.

Tôi tin rằng mọi trí tuệ con người đều cảm thấy vui sướng khi làm điều tốt cho người khác.

Đừng bao giờ sử dụng tiền bạc trước khi có tiền bạc.

Nếu là phong cách, hãy bơi theo dòng chảy, nếu là nguyên tắc, hãy đứng vững như tảng đá.

Tôi không thể sống mà không có sách.

Khi báo chí tự do và con người ai cũng biết đọc, tất cả đều an toàn.

Những ngày ta không học được điều gì hữu ích là những ngày đánh mất. Con người không có tài sản nào quý giá và cao cả hơn thời gian.

Hãy quyết tâm không lười nhác. Không ai sẽ rơi vào cảnh phải phàn nàn mình thiếu thời gian khi mà mình chưa bao giờ đánh mất thời gian. Thật kỳ diệu rằng ta có thể làm được nhiều đến thế nào, nếu ta luôn luôn hành động.

Đừng bao giờ mua thứ mình không muốn chỉ vì nó rẻ, nó sẽ là đắt đối với bạn.

Bạn muốn biết mình là ai không? Đừng hỏi. Hãy hành động! Hành động sẽ phác họa và định hình bạn.

Tôi là người rất tin vào may mắn, và tôi phát hiện ra tôi càng làm việc, tôi càng có nhiều may mắn.

Không gì có thể ngăn cản một người với sự quyết tâm cao độ đạt được giấc mơ của họ; không gì trên thế giới này có thể giúp được một người không có sự quyết tâm.