Thomas Jefferson

"That liberty [is pure] which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone. (to Horatio Gates, 1798)"

"The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction."

"It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice"

"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 spite of individual exceptions."

"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

"Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto."

"Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens; and the same circumstance, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite public agents to corruption, plunder and waste."

"No people who are ignorant can be truly free."

"no people can be both ignorant and free."

"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Vir"

"Everything is useful which contributes to fix in the principles and practices of virtue."

"When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred."

"The contest is not between Us and Them, but between Good and Evil, and if those who would fight Evil adopt the ways of Evil, Evil wins."

"A Man's management of his own purse speaks volumes about character"

"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."

"To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others."

"I find that the harder I work , the more luck I seem to have."

"“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”"

"This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."

"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."