Thomas Jefferson
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.Collection: Alone
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.Collection: Best
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.Collection: Patriotism
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 blind-folded fear.Collection: God
Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.Collection: Truth
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.Collection: Brainy
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.Collection: Good
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.Collection: Gardening
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.Collection: Friendship
I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.Collection: War
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.Collection: God
One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.Collection: Alone
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.Collection: History
Never spend your money before you have earned it.Collection: Money
To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.Collection: Education
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.Collection: Dreams
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.Collection: Business
The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.Collection: Inspirational
Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.Collection: Fitness
Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.Collection: Fitness
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.Collection: Humor
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.Collection: Happiness
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.Collection: Government
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.Collection: Truth
There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.Collection: Fear
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.Collection: Alone
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.Collection: Wisdom
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.Collection: Motivational
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.Collection: Hope
Taste cannot be controlled by law.Collection: Legal
The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.Collection: Power
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.Collection: Knowledge
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.Collection: Good
Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.Collection: Truth
Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence Of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia.Collection: Independence
Power is not alluring to pure minds.Collection: Power
If God is just, I tremble for my country.Collection: God
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.Collection: Religion
I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.Collection: Government
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.Collection: Government
It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.Collection: War
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.Collection: Attitude
Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor - over each other.Collection: Religion
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.Collection: Society
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.Collection: Motivational
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.Collection: Power
One man with courage is a majority.Collection: Courage
The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.Collection: Imagination
I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.Collection: Trust
Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.Collection: Peace