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For if one link in nature's chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish by piecemeal.

Thomas Jefferson

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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
Chains
Environmental
Lost
Piecemeal
Another
Biodiversity
Nature
Vanish
Might
Link
Whole
Chain
Things
Links

More quotes by Thomas Jefferson

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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.
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If you have any duty which must be done, and it seems disagreeable, do it promptly and have it over.
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Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves... down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony.
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No man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it. The honeymoon would be as short in that case as in any other, and its moments of ecstasy would be ransomed by years of torment and hatred.
Thomas Jefferson
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The Declaration of Independence . . . [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.
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The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to the worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities.
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letters are not the first, but the last step in the progression from barbarism to civilisation.
Thomas Jefferson
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If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else.
Thomas Jefferson
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A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson
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If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.
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Always take hold of things by the smooth handle grateful that they are not worse rather than the rough handle, bitter that they are not better.
Thomas Jefferson
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I discharge every person under punishment or prosecution under the Sedition Law, because I considered, and now consider, that law to be a nullity as absolute and palpable as if Congress had ordered us to fall down and worship a golden image.
Thomas Jefferson
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I never before knew the full value of trees. Under them I breakfast, dine, write, read and receive my company.
Thomas Jefferson
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Everything is useful which contributes to fix the principles and practices of virtue.
Thomas Jefferson
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The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.
Thomas Jefferson
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So, ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation, in what country on earth would you rather live? — Certainly, in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which would be your second choice? France.
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I sincerely pray that all the members of the human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
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The plough is to the farmer what the wand is to the sorcerer. Its effect is really like sorcery.
Thomas Jefferson
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The hole and the patch should be commensurate.
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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