There is no King, who, with sufficient force, is not always ready to make himself absolute. Thomas Jefferson More Quotes by Thomas Jefferson More Quotes From Thomas Jefferson A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither. Thomas Jefferson successinspirationalorder It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read. Thomas Jefferson integrityinspirationallife Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them. Thomas Jefferson readingmenmean Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. Thomas Jefferson spiritualrunningmotivational Trade liberty for safety or money and you'll end up with neither. Liberty, like a grain of salt, easily dissolves. The power of questioning - not simply believing - has no friends. Yet liberty depends on it. Thomas Jefferson safetylibertybelieve Every people may establish what form of government they please, and change it as they please, the will of the nation being the only thing essential. Thomas Jefferson essentialsgovernmentpeople I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. 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. Thomas Jefferson governmenttwothinking What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. Thomas Jefferson freedomguncountry When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated. Thomas Jefferson freedomtruthknowledge Is it less dishonest to do what is wrong because it is not expressly prohibited by written law? Let us hope our moral principles are not yet in that stage of degeneracy. Thomas Jefferson moralityprincipleslaw The man who would choose security over freedom deserves neither. Thomas Jefferson freedomhe-manmen The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights Thomas Jefferson freedompoliticalrights 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 armynamesbelieve Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Thomas Jefferson partywisecountry A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. Thomas Jefferson medicinegovernmentwisdom The contest is not between us and them, but between good and evil, and if those who would fight evil adopt the ways of evil, evil wins. Thomas Jefferson fightingevilwinning Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor. Thomas Jefferson economic-inequalityanimalmen 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 tyrantswisdomlaw To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. Thomas Jefferson government-debtindependenceliberty Dependence leads to subservience. Thomas Jefferson dependencelibertarianliberty
