Quotations From THOMAS JEFFERSON

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• 1.

  No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, September 9, 1792, to George Washington.
• 2.

  They know, and will therefore say, that kings are the servants, not the proprietors of the people.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. "A Summary View of the Rights of British America..." (1774). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 134, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).
  
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• 3.

  We must endeavor to forget our former love for them [the British] and to hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. "Fragment of the Composition Draft of the Declaration of Independence" (1776). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 421, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).
  
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• 4.

  We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, June 24, 1813. On the incurring of a national debt.
• 5.

  Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, March 17, 1814. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 9, ed. Paul L. Ford (1898).
• 6.

  If you are obliged to neglect any thing, let it be your chemistry. It is the least useful and the least amusing to a country gentleman of all the ordinary branches of science.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, January 3, 1809, to his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, p. 377, eds. E.M. Betts and J.A. Bear, Jr. (1966).
• 7.

  For the support of this declaration we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honour.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. "Jefferson's 'original Rough draught' of the Declaration of Independence" (1776). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 427, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).
• 8.

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

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 1813, to Jefferson's successor as president, James Madison.
• 9.

  Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on [political offices], a rottenness begins in his conduct.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, May 21, 1799. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 7, ed. Paul L. Ford (1896).
• 10.

  There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. letter, Oct. 28, 1813, to former president, John Adams. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 9, ed. Paul L. Ford (1898).