Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He is mostly remembered as a draftsman of the Declaration of Independence. As an inspirational symbol, thought-provoking Thomas Jefferson quotes will enrich your perspective, make you mentally stronger and embrace your full life.
His popular slogan was “With Jefferson, we shall have peace, therefore the friends of peace will vote for Jefferson.”
If you’re searching for famous quotes about life that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of Theodore Roosevelt quotes, best George Washington quotes, and wise quotes by Abraham Lincoln.
Thomas Jefferson Quotes
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson
I cannot live without books.Thomas Jefferson
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. Thomas Jefferson
Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. Thomas Jefferson
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever. Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom. Thomas Jefferson
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government. Thomas Jefferson
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. Thomas Jefferson
Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. Thomas Jefferson
I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. Thomas Jefferson
On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson
Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. Thomas Jefferson
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.Thomas Jefferson
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. Thomas Jefferson
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate. Thomas Jefferson
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 the individual. Thomas Jefferson
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. Thomas Jefferson
Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. Thomas Jefferson
Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry. Thomas Jefferson
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. Thomas Jefferson
History, in general, only informs us what bad government is. Thomas Jefferson
Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations. Thomas Jefferson
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. Thomas Jefferson
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Thomas Jefferson
How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened. Thomas Jefferson
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
All should be laid open to you without reserve, for there is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world. Thomas Jefferson
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty. Thomas Jefferson
Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. Thomas Jefferson
It is an axiom in my mind, that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the State to effect, and on a general plan. Thomas Jefferson
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Thomas Jefferson
Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. Thomas Jefferson
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Thomas Jefferson
I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led. Thomas Jefferson
Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
One man with courage is a majority. Thomas Jefferson
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! Thomas Jefferson
It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness. Thomas Jefferson
Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time. Thomas Jefferson
He who knows best knows how little he knows. Thomas Jefferson
I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to it’s laws and judgments than one independent nation has the right to command another. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. Thomas Jefferson
Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do. Thomas Jefferson
What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment and death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose. Thomas Jefferson
That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part. Thomas Jefferson
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object. Thomas Jefferson
Delay is preferable to error. Thomas Jefferson
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none. Thomas Jefferson
A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. Thomas Jefferson
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Thomas Jefferson
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Thomas Jefferson
If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions. Thomas Jefferson
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. Thomas Jefferson
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution of most of our states and of the United States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. Thomas Jefferson
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be. Thomas Jefferson
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it the second time. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and opressions of the body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Thomas Jefferson
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it. Thomas Jefferson
The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster cruel vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging three headed beast like god one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes fools and hypocrites. Thomas Jefferson
But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. Thomas Jefferson
Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love. Thomas Jefferson
I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another. Thomas Jefferson
