Thomas Jefferson
United States
13 Apr 1743 // 4 Jul 1826
Statesman, Politician
13 Apr 1743 // 4 Jul 1826
Statesman, Politician
Quotes
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I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, 1800
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
in The New Dictionary of Thoughts
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
Letter to Abigail Adams, 1787
It is as useless to argue with those who have renounced the use of reason as to administer medication to the dead.
A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Letter to James Madison, 1787
Whenever any form of government becomes destructive... it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it...
Declaration of Independence
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.
Every honest man will suppose honest acts to flow from honest principles, and the rogues may rail without intermission.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays