OldManBear's Journal

 Thomas Jefferson quotes worth remembering

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.

Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

I cannot live without books.

I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.

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 happiness.

Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.

Never spend your money before you have it.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. 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 blindfolded fear.

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

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.

We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.

No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will.

If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched.