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Thomas Jefferson Quotes

1743–1826 United States

Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 – 4 July 1826) was author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1777), founder of the University of Virginia (1819), the third president of the United States (1801–1809), a political philosopher, editor of Jefferson's Bible (1819), and one of the most influential founders of the United States.

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Also known as: Jefferson, Jefferson, Thomas, Thomas jefferson, Jeffersonian

Random Thomas Jefferson quote

349 quotes

There is no justification for taking away individuals' freedom in the guise of public safety.

Misattributed

Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see.

Misattributed

I allow nothing for losses by death, but, on the contrary, shall presently take credit four per cent. per annum, for their increase over and above keeping up their own numbers.

Attributed

The best government is that which governs least.

Misattributed

I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.

Attributed

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Misattributed

Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.

Misattributed

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

Misattributed

If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.

Misattributed

When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

Misattributed

Equal rights for all, special privileges for none.

Misattributed

I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.

Disputed

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Misattributed

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.

Misattributed

Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.

Misattributed

The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.

Misattributed

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.

Misattributed

Children till 10. years old to serve as nurses. from 10. to 16. the boys make nails, the girls spin. at 16. go into the ground or learn trades.

Attributed

Widespread poverty and concentrated wealth cannot long endure side by side in a democracy

Misattributed

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Misattributed

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas Jefferson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.