Thomas Jefferson

“But friendship is precious, not only in the shade but in the sunshine of life; & thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine. I will recur for proof to the days we have lately passed. On these indeed the sun shone brightly.”

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitudefrom achieving his goal.Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.”

“History is philosophy teaching by examples.”

“I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.”

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

“The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.--The Fruit Hunters”

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

“I cannot live without books.”

“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”

“Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.”

“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.”

“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

“And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

“To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.”

“The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.”

“I have done for my country, and for all mankind, all that I could do, and I now resign my soul, without fear, to my God - my daughter to my country.”

“One man with courage is a majority.”

“The dead should not rule the living.”

“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.”