If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. Thomas Jefferson
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. Thomas Jefferson
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. Thomas Jefferson
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Thomas Jefferson
Every generation needs a new revolution. Thomas Jefferson
Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism. Thomas Jefferson
I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it. Thomas Jefferson
I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. Thomas Jefferson
I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? Thomas Jefferson
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson
Information is the currency of democracy. Thomas Jefferson
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people. Thomas Jefferson
Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society. Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson
Never spend your money before you have earned it. Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. Thomas Jefferson
No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it. Thomas Jefferson
One man with courage is a majority. Thomas Jefferson
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence. Thomas Jefferson
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. Thomas Jefferson
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
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. Thomas Jefferson
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. Thomas Jefferson
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents. Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed. Thomas Jefferson
We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country. Thomas Jefferson
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. Thomas Jefferson
