16 Best Quotes by Thomas Jefferson to Reflect

     Thomas Jefferson Quotes: The 16 Most Incredible, Remarkable and Missing Quotes from this American Icon. Messages, Excerpts, Quotes, Thoughts, and Motivational Phrases!

Who was Thomas Jefferson?

     Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826) was the third president of the United States (1801-1809) and the main author of the United States' Declaration of Independence (1776).

     Among the high-profile events in American history that took place during his presidency are the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806), as well as the escalating tensions between Britain and France that led to to war with the British Empire in 1812, the year he left office.

     He idealized the Yeoman farmer as an example of republican virtues, fueled a distrust of cities and financiers, while privileging states' rights and a tightly controlled federal government.

     Jefferson served as governor of Virginia during a period of war (1779-1781), was the first United States Secretary of State (1789-1793), and second Vice President of the United States (1797-1801).

Thomas Jefferson quotes about life:

• "Honesty is the first chapter of the wisdom book."

• "The man who reads nothing is more learned than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

• "I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can keep the government from wasting the work of the people under the guise of taking care of them."

• "Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will outline and define you." - Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

• "The government's legitimate powers extend only to acts that are harmful to others. It doesn't matter to me that my neighbor says there are twenty gods or no gods. It doesn't pierce my pocket or break my leg."

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

• "The most valuable of all talents is to never use two words when one will do."

• "I believe more in luck and I think the harder I work, the more I have of it."

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Thomas Jefferson's Best Quotes:

• "If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done."
  

• "Everything must be open to you without reservation, for there is no truth that I fear, or would wish to be, unknown to the whole world."

• "There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people."

• "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

• "I'd rather be locked up in a very modest little house with my books, my family and a few old friends, eating a simple bacon and letting the world go as it pleased, than occupy the most splendid post any human being can give." - Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

• "Nothing gives one person such an advantage over another as to remain calm and serene under all circumstances."

• "History, by and large, only tells us what bad government is."

• "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences arising from too much liberty than to those who attend to too little of it."

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