Thomas Jefferson

Men fight for freedom; then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.

When the heart is right, the feet are swift.

Government governed least is government governed best.

The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights.

If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter

Nothing is more incumbent on the old than to know when they should get out of the way and relinquish to younger successors the honors they can no longer earn, and the duties they can no longer perform.

Every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will.

Question with boldness even the existence of a god.

The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.

None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army

It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.

If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.

The man who would choose security over freedom deserves neither.

A private central bank issuing the public currency is a greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army. We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

The same political parties which now agitiate the US have existed through all time. And in fact the terms of whig and tory belong to natural as well as to civil history. They denote the temper and constitution and mind of different individuals.

The greatest calamity which could befall us would be submission to a government of unlimited powers.

Music...This is the favorite passion of my soul.

Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust.

We have already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body

Never use two words when one will do.

If it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience.