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.
TJ
Author
Thomas Jefferson
/thomas-jefferson-quotes-and-sayings
315
Quotes
20
Works
Author Summary
About Thomas Jefferson on QuoteMust
Thomas Jefferson currently has 315 indexed quotes and 20 linked works on QuoteMust. This page is the canonical destination for that author archive.
Works
Books and titles linked to this author
A Summary View of the Rights of British America: Reprinted from the Original Ed.,
Adams-Jefferson Letters
Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson
benjamin franklin,
Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States of America, Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments (Including Images of Original
Democracy in America
Jefferson: Public and Private Papers
Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Memoirs, Correspondence And Private Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Ed. By T.J. Randolph
Notes on the State of Virginia
The Declaration of Independence
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 9: 1 September 1815 to 30 April 1816
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 11: January 1787 to August 1787
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 16: November 1789 to July 1790
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, Volume 10: 1 May 1816 to 18 January 1817
The Quotable Jefferson
The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom
U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
Works of Thomas Jefferson. Including The Jefferson Bible, Autobiography and The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Illustrated), with Notes on Virginia, Parliamentary ... more.
Writings: Autobiography/Notes on the State of Virginia/Public & Private Papers/Addresses/Letters
Quotes
All quote cards for Thomas Jefferson
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.