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We lay it down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right that, without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in conscience.

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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President Jefferson
T. Jefferson
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Men possessing minds of the first order and who have had opportunities of being known and of acquiring the general confidence do not abound in any country beyond the wants of the country.
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The happiest hours of my life have been spent in the flow of affection among friends.
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The government you elect is the government you deserve.
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Bind them down by the chains of the Constitution where they can do no mischief.
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The Christian god is a being of terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust.
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Law is often the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.
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To seek out the best [persons to serve in the government] though the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with ther purest motives, is something incorrect....No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying as to put the right man in the right place.
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A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful Land, traversing all the seas with the rich production of their Industry.
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Health is worth more than learning.
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Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.
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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.
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I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude
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What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.
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There is no King, who, with sufficient force, is not always ready to make himself absolute.
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We figure great careers aren't made. They're experienced.
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I will not believe our labors are lost. I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on a steady advance.
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Is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than that of face and stature.
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Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans value themselves on having subdued the horse to the uses of man but I doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained, by the use of this animal.
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An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second.
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I tolerate with the utmost latitude the right of others to differ from me in opinion without imputing to them criminality.
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