Thomas Jefferson

When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty.

Enlighten The People, Generally, And Tyranny And Oppressions Of Body And Mind Will Vanish Like Spirits At The Dawn Of Day.

We Confide In Our Strength, Without Boasting Of It; We Respect That Of Others, Without Fearing It.

Laws And Institutions Must Go Hand In Hand With The General Progress Of The Human Mind.

If A Nation Expects To Be Ignorant And Free, In A State Of Civilization, It Expects What Never Was And Never Will Be.

Every Day Is Lost In Which We Do Not Learn Something Useful. Man Has No Nobler Or More Valuable Possession Than Time.

Nothing Gives One Person So Much Advantage Over Another As To Remain Always Cool And Unruffled Under All Circumstances.

The Care Of Human Life And Happiness, And Not Their Destruction, Is The First And Only Object Of Good Government.

To Compel A Man To Furnish Funds For The Propagation Of Ideas He Disbelieves And Abhors Is Sinful And Tyrannical.

The Glow Of One Warm Thought Is To Me Worth More Than Money.

We Should Never Judge A President By His Age, Only By His Works.

I Find That The Harder I Work, The More Luck I Seem To Have.

The Most Valuable Of All Talents Is That Of Never Using Two Words When One Will Do.

The Man Who Reads Nothing At All Is Better Educated Than The Man Who Reads Nothing But Newspapers.

Walking Is The Best Possible Exercise. Habituate Yourself To Walk Very Far.

In Matters Of Style, Swim With The Current; In Matters Of Principle, Stand Like A Rock.

Honesty Is The First Chapter In The Book Of Wisdom.

I Would Rather Be Exposed To The Inconveniences Attending Too Much Liberty Than To Those Attending Too Small A Degree Of It.

Every Difference Of Opinion Is Not A Difference Of Principle.

I Like The Dreams Of The Future Better Than The History Of The Past.

It Is Neither Wealth Nor Splendor, But Tranquility And Occupation Which Give Happiness.

Do Not Bite At The Bait Of Pleasure Till You Know There Is No Hook Beneath It.

Never Trouble Another For What You Can Do For Yourself.

Never Spend Your Money Before You Have Earned It.

I Do Not Take A Single Newspaper, Nor Read One A Month, And I Feel Myself Infinitely The Happier For It.

Educate And Inform The Whole Mass Of The People… They Are The Only Sure Reliance For The Preservation Of Our Liberty.

Do You Want To Know Who You Are? Don’t Ask. Act! Action Will Delineate And Define You.

I Cannot Live Without Books.

For People Who Are Free, And Who Mean To Remain So, A Well-organized And Armed Militia Is Their Best Security.

When Angry Count To Ten Before You Speak. If Very Angry, Count To One Hundred.

I Never Considered A Difference Of Opinion In Politics, In Religion, In Philosophy, As Cause For Withdrawing From A Friend.

A Republican Government Is Slow To Move, Yet Once In Motion It’s Momentum Becomes Irresistible.

The Spirit Of Resistance To Government Is So Valuable On Certain Occasions, That I Wish It Always To Be Kept Alive.

The Way For A Young Man To Rise Is To Improve Himself In Every Way He Can, Never Suspecting That Anybody Wishes To Hinder Him.

Character Is Like A Tree And Reputation Like A Shadow. The Shadow Is What We Think Of It; The Tree Is The Real Thing.

Everybody Likes A Compliment.

Better To Remain Silent And Be Thought A Fool Than To Speak Out And Remove All Doubt.

I Do The Very Best I Know How – The Very Best I Can; And I Mean To Keep On Doing So Until The End.

The Best Way To Destroy An Enemy Is To Make Him A Friend.

You Can Fool All The People Some Of The Time, And Some Of The People All The Time, But You Cannot Fool All The People All The Time.

No Man Is Good Enough To Govern Another Man Without The Other’s Consent.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.

In The End, It’s Not The Years In Your Life That Count. It’s The Life In Your Years.

Give Me Six Hours To Chop Down A Tree And I Will Spend The First Four Sharpening The Axe.

I Remember My Mother’s Prayers And They Have Always Followed Me. They Have Clung To Me All My Life.

Hold On With A Bulldog Grip, And Chew And Choke As Much As Possible.

When I Am Getting Ready To Reason With A Man, I Spend One-third Of My Time Thinking About Myself And What I Am Going To Say And Two-thirds About Him And What He Is Going To Say.

I Like To See A Man Proud Of The Place In Which He Lives. I Like To See A Man Live So That His Place Will Be Proud Of Him.

The Things I Want To Know Are In Books; My Best Friend Is The Man Who’ll Get Me A Book I Ain’t Read.

The Philosophy Of The School Room In One Generation Will Be The Philosophy Of Government In The Next.

I Am Not One Who Was Born In The Possession Of Knowledge; I Am One Who Is Fond Of Antiquity, And Earnest In Seeking It There.