Thomas Jefferson

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”

“The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.”

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

“I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.”

“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.”

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

“A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.”

“My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.”

“I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.”

“It does me no harm for my neighbor to believe in many Gods or no God. It neither robs my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

“When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

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

“Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast.”

“One man with courage is a majority.”

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

“To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.”

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.”

“In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.”

“If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.”

“History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.”

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

“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.”

“Never spend your money before you have earned it.”