Thomas Jefferson

“Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.”

“But it is not by the consolidation, or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected.”

“Delay is preferable to error.”

“Each generation... has a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness.”

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

“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate error so long as reason is free to combat it.”

“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.”

“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.”  [in a June 11, 1807 letter to John Norvell]

“Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.”

“I cannot live without books.”

“I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.”

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”

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

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”

“If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”

“If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?”

“If no action is to be deemed virtuous for which malice can imagine a sinister motive, then there never was a virtuous action.”

“I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder the work the more I have of it.”

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

“Music... the favorite passion of my soul.”

“Nothing then is unchangeable but the inherent and inalienable rights of man.”

“One generation cannot bind another.”

“One man with courage is a majority.”

“Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

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

“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.”

“The care of human life and happiness... is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”

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

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

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

“The sword of the law should never fall but on those whose guilt is so apparent as to be pronounced by their friends as well as foes.”

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

“When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.”

“When a man has cast his longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

“When angry, count to ten before you speak; when very angry, a hundred.”

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.”