Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.

No people who are ignorant can be truly free.

Be polite to all, but intimate with few.

Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.

The price of liberty is constant vigilance.

There exists indeed an opposition to it [building of UVA, Jefferson’s secular college] by the friends of William and Mary, which is not strong. The most restive is that of the priests of the different...

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to it’s laws and judgments than one independent nation has the right...

I think one travels more usefully when they travel alone, because they reflect more.”(Letter to John Banister, Jr., June 19, 1787)

The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrant. It is its natural manure.

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of...

Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.

Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.

Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.

Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government…

If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form let them stand undisturbed as monuments to the safety with which error of opinion may be...

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.

Conquest is not in our principles; it is inconsistent with our government

The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if...

Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree...

Power is not alluring to pure minds

I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to take a part in resisting...

If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in...

It be urged that the wild and uncultivated tree, hitherto yielding sour and bitter fruit only, can never be made to yield better; yet we know that the grafting art implants a new tree on...

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.

Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.

We are endeavoring, too, to reduce the government to the practice of a rigorous economy, to avoid burdening the people, and arming the magistrate with patronage of money, which might be used to corrupt and...

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves...

Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office

Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree (for all forbid us to steal, murder, plunder, or bear...

That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in...

Politics are such a torment that I would advise every one I love not to mix with them.

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it, we respect that of others, without fearing it.

‎We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude…If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor...

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity,...

Never spend your money before you have earned it.

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.

It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.

I consider him [Alexander von Humboldt] the most important scientist whom I have met.

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

A nation as a society forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society