Thomas Jefferson

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

"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."

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

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

"An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people."

"The greatest good for the greatest number."

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

"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."

"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion."

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government."

"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none."

"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far."

"Traveling makes one modest. You see what an enormous place the world is in this world."

"The person who reads nothing at all is better educated than the person who reads nothing but newspapers."

"No one has a greater asset for his business than a man's pride in his work."

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together."

"The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them."

"Determine never to be idle."

"I predict the United States will exhaust its resources within this century."

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

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

"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

"The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."

"Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a building."

"Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong."

"My head and my heart are at war, my head counsels me one course, and my heart urges me another."