Quote

The same political parties which now agitiate the US have existed through all time. And in fact the terms of whig and tory belong to natural as well as to civil history. They denote the temper and constitution and mind of different individuals.

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
Wells
Term
Existed
Well
Party
Temper
Fact
Parties
Different
Natural
Belong
Mind
Individual
Civil
Time
History
Individuals
Whig
Facts
Constitution
Denote
Political
Terms
Tory

More quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Image
There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provision should be made to prevent its ascendency.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
What has been the effect of [religious] coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Do not be too severe upon the errors of the people, but reclaim them by enlightening them.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many on their getting warm, becoming rude and shooting one another.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
It is an encouraging observation that no good measure was ever proposed which, if duly pursued, failed to prevail in the end.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The bloom of Monticello is chilled by my solitude.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The happiness of society depends so much on preventing party spirit from infecting the common intercourse of life, that nothing should be spared to harmonize and amalgamate the two parties in social circles.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The olive tree is surely the richest gift of Heaven. I can scarcely expect bread.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it (i.e. the Book of Revelations), and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherence of our own nightly dreams.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
letters are not the first, but the last step in the progression from barbarism to civilisation.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
We must endeavor to forget our former love for them [the British] and to hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Every generation needs a new revolution.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Excessive taxation . . . will carry reason & reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election.
Thomas Jefferson
Image
Religious leaders will always avail themselves of public ignorance for their own purpose.
Thomas Jefferson