Quotes from Thomas Jefferson

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Never spend your money before you have it.

I cannot live without books.

The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves.

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

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.

Every generation needs a new revolution.

An injured friend is the bitterest of foes.

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

Quotes from Thomas Jefferson part 2

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

Determine never to be idle… It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

It is always better to have no ideas than false ones.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

No government ought to be without censors and where the press is free, no one ever will.

The moment you start talking about what you’re going to do, you’re dead, because you’re not doing.

The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections.

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms within his own lands.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

The time is always right to do what is right.

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

We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.