Quote

I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations - to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements under all circumstances, to be open and generous, promoting in the long run even the interests of both

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
Running
Interests
Even
Gratitude
Long
Grateful
Engagements
Men
Circumstances
Promoting
System
Engagement
Open
Faithful
Nations
Generous
Interest
Ethics

More quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Image
Having labored faithfully in establishing the right of self-government, we see in the rising generation, into whose hands it is passing, that purity of principle and energy of character which will protect and preserve it through their day, and deliver it over to their sons as they receive it from their fathers.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Female education ... has occupied my attention so far only as the education of my own daughters ... I thought it essential to give them a solid education which might enable them, when become mothers, to educate their own daughters, and even to direct the course for sons, should their fathers be.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Whiskey claims to itself alone the exclusive office of sot-making.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
I tolerate with the utmost latitude the right of others to differ from me in opinion without imputing to them criminality.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Those characters wherein fear predominates over hope may apprehend too much from...instances of irregularity. They may conclude too hastily that nature has formed man insusceptible of any other government than that of force, a conclusion not founded in truth nor experience.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth and I am sure...we both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The federal government is our servant, not our master.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
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.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another as his enemy.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights, and are the only instruments which can be used for their destruction. And certainly they would never consent to be so used were they not deceived. To avoid this they should be instructed to a certain degree.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact (casus non faederis) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits. Without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
It is a misnomer to call a government republican in which a branch of the supreme power is independent of the nation.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
We are here lounging our time away, doing nothing, and having nothing to do. It gives me great regret to be passing my time so uselessly when it could have been so importantly employed at home.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Every man has a commission to admonish, exhort, convince another of error.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
We sometimes from dreams pick up some hint worth improving by reflection.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The only true corrective of Constitutional abuses is education.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
I like to see the people awake and alert.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Who then can so softly bind up the wound of another as he who has felt the same wound himself.
Thomas Jefferson