Thomas Jefferson

"All too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

"In the pursuit of science and knowledge, there is no end to the applications that can be made."

"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."

"He who knows best knows how little he knows."

"Industry and frugality are the means of procuring wealth, and wealth is the means of procuring happiness."

"I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others."

"A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth."

"Information is the currency of democracy."

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

"We hold these truths to be self-evident."

"When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred."

"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time."

"There is nothing more important for the public weal than to form and train our youth in wisdom and virtue."

"I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others."

"The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead."

"Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people."

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

"A man may change his party affiliation; he cannot change his conscience."

"None of the key figures of the Enlightenment had much use for religion."

"We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."

"The purpose of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to close it on something solid."

"Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind."

"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and beware of those who would stop you from doing so."

"The greatest dangers to American freedom are a general ignorance of government and an apathy toward public affairs."

"Delay is preferable to error."

"I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."

"The only fear that I have is the fear of not living up to what I think I ought to do."

"The life and liberty of the human being are sacred above all things."