When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Politicians and Politics]

I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Power]

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Power]

No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [President]

Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Pride]

In matters of principals, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Principles]

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Procrastination]

Public employment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one's family and affairs.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Public Office]

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.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Questions]

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. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Rebellion]

We rarely repent of having eaten too little.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Regret]

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Republican]

Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Resignation]

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Revolutions and Revolutionaries]

Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Ridicule]

Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it as earned.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Labor]

Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Law and Lawyers]

It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Law and Lawyers]

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Liberty]

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
~ Thomas Jefferson - [Liberty]