Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Thomas Jefferson was best known as the main author of the Declaration of Independence. A fine architect, he was also known as the 'father of archeology'. He was the third President of the United States. A strong personality, his words of wisdom still continue to inspire many till date. Take a look at some exclusively selected quotes by him, given below.

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

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

Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.

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

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

Never spend your money before you have it.

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.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.