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The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson
Age: 83 †
Born: 1743
Born: April 2
Died: 1826
Died: July 4
3Rd U.S. President
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Still less let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.
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No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.
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Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless, by human interposition, disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.
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Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindred and tongues.
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Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.
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I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.
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Nothing is so engaging as the little domestic cares into which you appear to be entering, and as to reading it is useful for onlyfilling up the chinks of more useful and healthy occupations.
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Honesty, disinterestedness and good nature are indispensable to procure the esteem and confidence of those with whom we live, and on whose esteem our happiness depends.
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To make us one nation as to foreign concerns, and keep us distinct in Domestic ones gives the outline of the proper division of powers between the general [national] and particular [state] governments.
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The lamp of war is kindled here, not to be extinguished but by torrents of blood.
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The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
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Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
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I find that he is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.
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The colleges of Edinburgh and Geneva as seminaries of science, are considered as the two eyes of Europe. While Great Britain and America give the preference to the former, all other countries give it to the latter.
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I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts.
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When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.
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All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution.
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To draw around the whole nation the strength of the General Government as a barrier against foreign foes... is [one of the] functions of the General Government on which [our citizens] have a right to call.
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The sickly, weakly, timid man fears the people, and is a Tory by nature. The healthy, strong and bold cherishes them, and is formed a Whig by nature.
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I hope that we have not labored in vain, and that our experiment will still prove that men can be governed by reason.
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