Thomas Jefferson

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

Never spend your money before you have earned it.

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

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.

One man with courage is a majority.

If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weed.

Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.

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

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

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.

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

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.

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

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Never spend money before you have it.

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.