2,194 Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Honesty is the first chapter in the Book of wisdom. Let it be our endeavor to merit the character of a just nation.

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; . . . even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern. . . .

To take a single step beyond the text would be to take possession of a boundless field of power.

Music furnishes a delightful recreation for the hours of respite from the cares of the day, and lasts us through life.

We owe gratitude to France, justice to England, good will to all, and subservience to none ... it was by the sober sense of our citizens that we were safely and steadily conducted from monarchy to republicanism, and it is by the same agency alone we can be kept from falling back.

Man [is] a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights and with an innate sense of justice.

If the measures which have been pursued are approved by the majority, it is the duty of the minority to acquiesce and conform.

Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

With all the defects in our Constitution, whether general or particular, the comparison of our government with those of Europe, is like a comparison of Heaven with Hell. England, like the earth, may be allowed to take the intermediate station.