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Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Political Figure

Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and author of the Declaration of Independence, championed liberty, reason, and the pursuit of knowledge. His quotes reflect his deep belief in freedom, education, and civic responsibility. Together, they offer timeless insights on leadership, personal integrity, and the principles that shape a just society.

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The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
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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.
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They (religions) dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live.
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I [am] obliged to recur ultimately to my habitual anodyne, "I feel: therefore I exist." I feel bodies which are not myself: there are other existencies then. I call them "matter". I feel them changing place. This gives me "motion". Where there is an absence of matter, I call it "void", or "nothing", or "immaterial space". On the basis of sensation, of matter and motion, we may erect the fabric of all the certainties we can have or need.
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Of all the cankers of human happiness, none corrodes it with so silent, yet so baneful, a tooth, as indolence.
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Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
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The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
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All are dead, and ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not, and who know us not.
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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.
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
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I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.
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I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.
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I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.
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There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.
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The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. . . . [are] the sole objects of all legitimate government.

(A plaque with this quotation, with the first phrase omitted, is in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.)
From Thomas Jefferson: Writings
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Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.
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If you want something you've never had
You must be willing to do something you've never done.
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I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
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I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
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Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.
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Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
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But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
From U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
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Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
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I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. but we cannot always do what is absolutely best. those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. truth advances, & error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.

[Comment on establishing Jefferson's University of Virginia, a secular college, in a letter to Thomas Cooper 7 October 1814]
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
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I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence. I am sure that I really know many, many, things, and none more surely than that I love you with all my heart, and pray for the continuance of your life until you shall be tired of it yourself.
From The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson & Abigail & John Adams
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The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
They (religions) dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I [am] obliged to recur ultimately to my habitual anodyne, "I feel: therefore I exist." I feel bodies which are not myself: there are other existencies then. I call them "matter". I feel them changing place. This gives me "motion". Where there is an absence of matter, I call it "void", or "nothing", or "immaterial space". On the basis of sensation, of matter and motion, we may erect the fabric of all the certainties we can have or need.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Of all the cankers of human happiness, none corrodes it with so silent, yet so baneful, a tooth, as indolence.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All are dead, and ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not, and who know us not.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
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I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. . . . [are] the sole objects of all legitimate government.

(A plaque with this quotation, with the first phrase omitted, is in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.)
From Thomas Jefferson: Writings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If you want something you've never had
You must be willing to do something you've never done.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
From U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. but we cannot always do what is absolutely best. those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. truth advances, & error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.

[Comment on establishing Jefferson's University of Virginia, a secular college, in a letter to Thomas Cooper 7 October 1814]
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence. I am sure that I really know many, many, things, and none more surely than that I love you with all my heart, and pray for the continuance of your life until you shall be tired of it yourself.
From The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson & Abigail & John Adams
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
They (religions) dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I [am] obliged to recur ultimately to my habitual anodyne, "I feel: therefore I exist." I feel bodies which are not myself: there are other existencies then. I call them "matter". I feel them changing place. This gives me "motion". Where there is an absence of matter, I call it "void", or "nothing", or "immaterial space". On the basis of sensation, of matter and motion, we may erect the fabric of all the certainties we can have or need.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Of all the cankers of human happiness, none corrodes it with so silent, yet so baneful, a tooth, as indolence.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All are dead, and ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not, and who know us not.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. . . . [are] the sole objects of all legitimate government.

(A plaque with this quotation, with the first phrase omitted, is in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.)
From Thomas Jefferson: Writings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If you want something you've never had
You must be willing to do something you've never done.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
From U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. but we cannot always do what is absolutely best. those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. truth advances, & error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.

[Comment on establishing Jefferson's University of Virginia, a secular college, in a letter to Thomas Cooper 7 October 1814]
From Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence. I am sure that I really know many, many, things, and none more surely than that I love you with all my heart, and pray for the continuance of your life until you shall be tired of it yourself.
From The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson & Abigail & John Adams
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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