"The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses"
"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed"
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government"
"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave"
"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way"
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever"
"I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary"
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them"
"I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office"
"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors"
"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security"
"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today"
"Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival"
"Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe"
"Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching"
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government"
"He who knows best knows how little he knows"
"Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?"
"The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism"
"The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world"
"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God"
"In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue"
"The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind"
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual"
"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"
"No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying as to put the right man in the right place"
"Never spend your money before you have earned it"
"It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read"
"In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty"
"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend"
"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal 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"
"Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted"
"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden"
"No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it"
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock"
"The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory"
"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"
"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none"
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself"
"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"
"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"
"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast"
"So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done"
"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter"
"We never repent of having eaten too little"
"Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society"
"That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part"
"Taste cannot be controlled by law"
"Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour"
"Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits"
