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.
— Thomas Jefferson
No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.
I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
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.
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
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 never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
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.
