...is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent reliance? ...the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. Thomas Jefferson More Quotes by Thomas Jefferson More Quotes From Thomas Jefferson Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reeactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free. Thomas Jefferson taxationgovernmentwish God has formed us moral agents... that we may promote the happiness of those with whom He has placed us in society, by acting honestly towards all, benevolently to those who fall within our way, respecting sacredly their rights, bodily and mental, and cherishing especially their freedom of conscience, as we value our own. Thomas Jefferson actingrightsfall I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man. Thomas Jefferson ethicslawmen We must use a good deal of economy in our wood, never cutting down new, where we can make the old do. Thomas Jefferson environmentalcuttinguse Action will Thomas Jefferson inspirational-teamknowing-who-you-aremotivational It is every Americans' right and obligation to read and interpret the Constitution for himself. Thomas Jefferson notableconstitutionobligation Above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, etc. Consider every act of this kind as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties and increase your worth. Thomas Jefferson gratefulexercisereligion On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar. Thomas Jefferson auntvirginiafood Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. Thomas Jefferson troublesomework The movements of nature are in a never ending circle. The animal species which has once been put into a train of motion, is still probably moving in that train. For if one link in nature's chain might be lost, another and another might be lost, till this whole system of things should evanish by piece-meal; a conclusion not warranted by the local disappearance of one or two species of animals, and opposed by the thousands and thousands of instances of the renovating power constantly exercised by nature for the reproduction of all her subjects, animal, vegetable, and mineral. Thomas Jefferson natureanimalmoving Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind. Thomas Jefferson painhappyhappiness I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too. Thomas Jefferson bookamericathinking Always take hold of things by the smooth handle. Thomas Jefferson smoothhandlelife In defense of our persons and properties under actual violation, we took up arms. When that violence shall be removed, when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, hostilities shall cease on our part also. Thomas Jefferson armsdefenseviolence Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another? Thomas Jefferson volunteernamesfriendship The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. Thomas Jefferson atheistreligiousjesus I cannot live without books: but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object. Thomas Jefferson fewerusebook I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet. Thomas Jefferson vegetarian-dietvegetarianismanimal Exercise and application produce order in our affairs, health of body, cheerfulness of mind, and these make us precious to our friends Thomas Jefferson exercisefitnessmotivational I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. Thomas Jefferson graduationinspirationallove
