The quotations of

Thomas Jefferson

Founding Father, U.S. president from 1801 to 1809

1743–1826

73 quotes, most often on Government, America and Truth & Lies. Part of the U.S. Presidents and Founding Fathers collections.

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.
Letter to George Washington (9 September 1792)
- Government
- Journalism
It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.
Letter From Thomas Jefferson to the Rev. James Madison, 19 July 1788
- Ideas
- Truth & Lies
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
Letter to Isaac McPherson (1813)
- Ideas
- Knowledge
The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state.
A Summary View of the Rights of British America (July 1774)
- Slavery
Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched.
Letter to H. Tompkinson (AKA Samuel Kercheval) (1816)
- Government
- Laws
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.
Letter to the Republican Citizens of Washington County, Maryland (31 March 1809)
- Government
In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.
Kentucky Resolutions (1798), Resolution 9
- Government
- Power
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.
The Declaration of Independence (1776), Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776), which he draftedIn context
- America
- Liberty
The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors.
Letter to John Norvell (11 June 1807)
- Journalism
- Truth & Lies
Since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasoning and opinions on a full hearing of all parties.
Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address (1805)
When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
The Declaration of Independence (1776)In context
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury.
The Declaration of Independence (1776)In context
- Government
- Justice
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved
The Declaration of Independence (1776)In context
- America
- Freedom

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