2,194 Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction.

The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper.

May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.

No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.

Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be great in both in proportion as it is free.

The First Amendment has created a wall of separation between the church and the State. But that wall is one directional. It is to keep the government from running the Church. But it is not to keep Christian principles out of the government.

The bulk of mankind are schoolboys through life.

By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.

"It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries."