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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

The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead.

Letters to John Wayles Eppes (1813)

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)

Lay down true principles and adhere to them inflexibly. Do not be frightened into their surrender by the alarms of the timid, or the croakings of wealth against the ascendency of the people.

Letter to Samuel Kercheval (1816)

There can be no safer deposit on earth than the Treasury of the United States.

The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen, in his person and property, and in their management.

Letter to H. Tompkinson (AKA Samuel Kercheval) (1816)

Virtue is not long darkened by the clouds of calumny.

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property, and justly liable to the inspection and vigilance of public opinion...

The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.

Letter to Larkin Smith (1809)

Botany is the school for patience, and it’s amateurs learn resignation from daily disappointments.

But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror.

Monuments of the safety with which errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

That one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected.

The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation, is ever dangerous.

When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.

I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.

All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution.

Yours is one of the few lives precious to mankind, and for the continuance of which every thinking man is solicitous. Bigots may be an exception.

As pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.

Good wine is a necessity of life for me.

The Man from Monticello : An Intimate Life of Thomas Jefferson (1969)

Attribution

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