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Man is not made for the State but the State for man and it derives its just powers only from the consent of the governed.

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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T. Jefferson
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More quotes by Thomas Jefferson

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Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will collections of men by that of their majority for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men.
Thomas Jefferson
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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.
Thomas Jefferson
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The only security of all is in a free press.
Thomas Jefferson
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Men fight for freedom then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.
Thomas Jefferson
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Students of reading, writing and common arithmetick . . . Graecian [Greek], Roman, English and American history . . . should be rendered . . . worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.
Thomas Jefferson
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Delay is preferable to error.
Thomas Jefferson
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I prefer to be remembered for what I have done for others, not what others have done for me.
Thomas Jefferson
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Nothing betrays imbecility so much as the being insensible of it.
Thomas Jefferson
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I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable, but the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property.
Thomas Jefferson
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If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.
Thomas Jefferson
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Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched?
Thomas Jefferson
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Nature [has] implanted in our breasts a love of others, a sense of duty to them, a moral instinct, in short, which prompts us irresistibly to feel and to succor their distresses.
Thomas Jefferson
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I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.
Thomas Jefferson
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Trial by jury is part of that bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
Thomas Jefferson
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Our ancient laws expressly declare that those who are but delegates themselves shall not delegate to others powers which require judgment and integrity in their exercise.
Thomas Jefferson
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The constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruption's of time and party, its members would become despots.
Thomas Jefferson
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If the measures which have been pursued are approved by the majority, it is the duty of the minority to acquiesce and conform.
Thomas Jefferson
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An hereditary aristocracy... will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world.
Thomas Jefferson
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So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.
Thomas Jefferson
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All... natural rights may be abridged or modified in [their] exercise by law.
Thomas Jefferson