1743-1826, Third President of the USA
A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.
Thomas Jefferson – [Coward and Cowardice]


A little rebellion now and then… is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
Thomas Jefferson – [Medicine]


A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe, for felicity.
Thomas Jefferson – [Happiness]


A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation.
Thomas Jefferson – [Citizenship]


Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments, however, may sometimes be seasonably interposed.
Thomas Jefferson – [Free Enterprise]


Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.
Thomas Jefferson – [Life and Living]


An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry.
Thomas Jefferson – [Argument]


Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
Thomas Jefferson – [Bankers and Banking]


Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.
Thomas Jefferson – [Books and Reading]


But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine.
Thomas Jefferson – [Friends and Friendship]


Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty.
Thomas Jefferson – [Law and Lawyers]


Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.
Thomas Jefferson – [Pleasure]


Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Thomas Jefferson – [Education]


Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
Thomas Jefferson – [Opinions]


Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Thomas Jefferson – [Vigilance]


Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
Thomas Jefferson – [Soldier]


Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
Thomas Jefferson – [Greed]


For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead…
Thomas Jefferson – [Truth]


Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?
Thomas Jefferson – [Friends and Friendship]


Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities.
Thomas Jefferson – [Innovation]

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