Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third
President of the United States. He also founded the University of Virginia. Here are some of his best
quotes:
“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.”
“My views… are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished any one to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others…”
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
“The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and
property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves;
nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able
to read, all is safe.”
“A sense of this necessity, and a submission to it, is to me a new and consolatory proof that
wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government; that
whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to
rights.”
“The good sense of the people will always be found the best army. They may be led astray
for a moment, but will soon correct themselves.”
“The voluntary support of laws, formed by persons of their own choice, distinguishes
peculiarly the minds capable of self-government. The contrary spirit is anarchy, which of necessity
produces despotism.”