Presidential Quotes: Thomas Jefferson

 Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President

“There is no justification for taking away individuals' freedoms in the guise of public safety.”

“When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.”

“The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”

“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”

“When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither.”

“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood.”

“Who will govern the governors? There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves. They alone, if well informed, are capable of preventing the corruption of power, and of restoring the nation to its rightful course if it should go astray. They alone are the safest depository of the ultimate powers of government.”

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

“Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.”

“The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart.”

“The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.”

“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”

“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

“The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.”