I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.
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Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson currently has 315 indexed quotes and 20 linked works on QuoteMust. This page is the canonical destination for that author archive.
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It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
A nation which expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, expects that which never was and never will be.
When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.
So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.
Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.
Never spend your money before you have earned it.
Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.
That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.
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.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.