Microdizzey
Well-Known Member
Read carefully! Jefferson left very important messages and warnings for Americans. Feel free to post other quotes.
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
“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.”
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”
“Information is the currency of democracy.”
“To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education”
“Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government...”
“Power is not alluring to pure minds”
“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.”
“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
"A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit."
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
"Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind. "
"Delay is preferable to error."
"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
"Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state. "
"Every generation needs a new revolution."
"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor."
"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security."
"He who knows best knows how little he knows."
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
"If God is just, I tremble for my country."
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."
"It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness. "
"It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good."
"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."
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."
“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
“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.”
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”
“Information is the currency of democracy.”
“To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education”
“Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government...”
“Power is not alluring to pure minds”
“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.”
“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
"A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit."
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
"Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind. "
"Delay is preferable to error."
"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
"Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state. "
"Every generation needs a new revolution."
"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor."
"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security."
"He who knows best knows how little he knows."
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
"If God is just, I tremble for my country."
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."
"It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness. "
"It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good."
"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."
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."
“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
... he just touches the surface of what's really going on...
