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The man who would choose security over freedom deserves neither.

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
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President Jefferson
T. Jefferson
Men
Deserves
Neither
Deserve
Choose
Security
Freedom
Would

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The order of nature [is] that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue.
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We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
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Laws abridging the natural right of the citizen should be restrained by rigorous constructions within their narrowest limits.
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France, freed from that monster, Bonaparte, must again become the most agreeable country on earth. It would be the second choice of all whose ties of family and fortune give a preference to some other one, and the first choice of all not under those ties.
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It is my disposition to maintain peace until its condition shall be made less tolerable than that of war itself.
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Those who have once got an ascendancy, and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their advantage.
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The art of life is the art of avoiding pain.
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Certain teachings in the Bible are as diamonds in a dung-heap.
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The only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it.
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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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I could say much about politics, our only entertainment here, but you would not care a fig about that.
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Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.
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Well, Page, I do wish the Devil had old Cooke, for I am sure I never was so tired of an old dull scoundrel in my life ... But the old-fellows say we must read to gain knowledge and gain knowledge to make us happy and be admired. Mere jargon! Is there any such thing as happiness in this world? No.
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His system of morality was the most benevolent and sublime probably that has been ever taught, and consequently more perfect than those of any of the ancient philosophers... He was the most innocent, the most benevolent, the most eloquent and sublime character that ever has been exhibited to man.
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I would rather have newspapers without a government than a government without newspapers.
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I leave the world and its affairs to the young and energetic, and resign myself to their care, of whom I have endeavored to take care when young.
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Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers (adminstrators) too plainly proves a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing us to slavery.
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The ocean ... like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind.
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What an augmentation of the field for jobbing, speculating, plundering, office-building and office-hunting would be produced by an assumption of all the state powers into the hands of the general government.
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Good humor is one of the preservatives of our peace and tranquility.
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