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Thomas Jefferson

100 quotes

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was an American Founding Father who served as the third President of the United States. He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, a champion of democracy, religious freedom, and individual rights. Jefferson was also an architect, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia.

“I have no ambition to govern men it is a painful and thankless office.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Men

All Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

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

— Thomas Jefferson

God

“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

Life

“I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Good

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

— Thomas Jefferson

Motivational

“The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Good

“Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Money

“Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Beauty

“It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Religion

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

— Thomas Jefferson

Government

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Best

“I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Government

“The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Imagination

“Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Society

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

— Thomas Jefferson

Inspirational

“It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.”

— Thomas Jefferson

War

“Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor - over each other.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Religion

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

— Thomas Jefferson

Government

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Alone

“It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Change

“He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Knowledge