Quote

Convinced that the people are the only safe depositories of their own liberty, and that they are not safe unless enlightened to a certain degree, I have looked on our present state of liberty as a short-lived possession unless the mass of the people could be informed to a certain degree.

Thomas Jefferson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Thomas Jefferson
Age: 83 †
Born: 1743
Born: April 2
Died: 1826
Died: July 4
3Rd U.S. President
Archaeologist
Architect
Cryptographer
Diplomat
Farmer
Inventor
Jurist
Lawyer
Philosopher
Politician
Slaveholder
President Jefferson
T. Jefferson
Liberty
Degrees
Education
Looked
State
Mass
Certain
Lived
Informed
States
Short
Enlightened
People
Safe
Possession
Unless
Degree
Present
Convinced

More quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Image
Those who wish to be ignorant and free, believe in something that never was and never shall be.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
I thank heaven that the 4th. of July is over. It is always a day of great fatigue to me, and of some embarrassments from improper intrusions and some from unintended exclusions.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Question with boldness even the existence of a God because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. It is therefore imperative that the nation see to it that a suitable education be provided for all its citizens.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The superiority of chocolate (hot chocolate), both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Paper money is liable to be abused, has been, is, and forever will be abused, in every country in which it is permitted.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
My views and feelings (are) in favor of the abolition of war-and I hope it is practicable, by improving the mind and morals of society, to lessen the disposition to war but of its abolition I despair.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
I have always said that a studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation... to a continuance in union... I have no hesitation in saying, 'let us separate.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Delay is preferable to error.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
I have sworn upon the altar of god.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Unmerited abuse wounds, while unmerited praise has not the power to heal.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
A determination never to do what is wrong, prudence, and good-humor, will go far toward securing to you the estimation of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
It is always better to have no ideas than false ones to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
We have already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body
Thomas Jefferson