Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American statesman, born at Shadwell, Virginia. He took a prominent part in the Revolution, and claimed to have drawn up the Declaration of Independence. He secured the decimal coinage for the States in 1783. Jefferson was also plenipotentiary in France in 1784, and subsequently minister there. Became the third President, 1801-1807, of USA, who saw the Louisiana purchase and the prohibition of the slave-trade. After his retirement he devoted himself to furthering education till his death at Monticello, Va. He was a man of extremes, but honest and consistent in his policy.Wisdom & Quotes
- The earth is given as common stock for man to labor and live on.
- Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
- A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth.
- Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
- The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
- The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
- The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
- It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.
- The execution of the laws is more important than the making them.
- Delay is preferable to error.
- Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none.
- My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.
- The spirit of this country is totally adverse to the large military force.
- For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organised and armed militia is their best security.
- But though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener.
- Every citizen (should) be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and the Romans, and must be that of every free state.
- An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.
- I cannot live without books.
- I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
- There is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.
- We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Force cannot give right.
- The whole art of government consists in being honest.
- Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
- It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty Gods, or no God.
- Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
- When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.
- Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
William Henry