The United States of America owes a lot to Thomas Jefferson, who is one of the most iconic figures of individual rights and democracy. This article will boast of all the noteworthy and iconic Thomas Jefferson quotes there are, that will make you feel proud to be an American.
Just like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, Thomas Jefferson was one of the key figures in the successful American Revolution against the British empire. His name will be remembered for years to come! He was one of the key Founding Fathers, who served as the 3rd President of America and was also the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
Despite the time and age he lived in, his opinions and views were incredibly insightful, open-minded, and progressive, which are relevant even today. His ideologies were important and significant then, and they are still important and significant now.
We have compiled a list of the best Thomas Jefferson quotes for you to read and enjoy. Read on to know more about some of the most iconic and famous Thomas Jefferson quotes there are.
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50+ Inspirational Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Thomas Jefferson Quotes On Freedom And Liberty –
1. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
2. “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”
3. “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
4. “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”
5. “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
6. “It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
7. “When the representative body have lost the confidence of their constituents when they have notoriously made sale of their most valuable rights when they have assumed to themselves powers which the people never put into their hands, then indeed their continuing in office becomes dangerous to the state.”
8. “Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be great in both in proportion as it is free.”
9. “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
10. “Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes On Success –
11. “Be polite to all, but intimate with few.”
12. “Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.”
13. “I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led.”
14. “Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.”
15. “If you want something you’ve never had you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”
16. “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”
17. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
18. “Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.”
19. “Take care of your cents: dollars will take care of themselves.”
20. “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
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Thomas Jefferson Quotes On Leadership –
21. “Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.”
22. “It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.”
23. “It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.”
24. “When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”
25. “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
26. “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
27. “My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.”
28. “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
29. “Nobody is better than you and remember, you are better than nobody.”
30. “Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.”
Thomas Jefferson Quotes On Education
31. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
32. “There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.”
33. “To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.”
34. “Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.”
35. “Students of reading, writing and common arithmetick . . . Graecian [Greek], Roman, English and American history . . . should be rendered . . . worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.”
36. “Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”
37. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
38. “Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both.”
39. “The truth is that the want of common education with us is not from our poverty but from the want of an orderly system. More money is now paid for the education of a part than would be paid for that of the whole if systematically arranged.”
40. “People generally have more feeling for canals and roads than education. However, I hope we can advance them with equal pace.”
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Thomas Jefferson Quotes On Life –
41. “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
42. “Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.”
43. “Delay is preferable to error.”
44. “Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”
45. “Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.”
46. “My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.”
47. “Think as you please, and so let others, and you will have no disputes.”
48. “When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness, and accommodate everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil; while fretting and fuming only serves to increase your own torments.”
49. “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.”
50. “My principle is to do whatever is right, and leave consequences to him who has the disposal of them.”
51. “The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven; and it is well it is so since it is that which is a lot of the mass of mankind.”
So, which of these quotes from Thomas Jefferson resonated with you the most? Let us know your thoughts and the best Thomas Jefferson quotes according to you, in the comments down below!
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