Thomas Jefferson

"Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party."

"Taste cannot be controlled by law."

"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."

"Money, not morality, is the principle of commercial nations."

"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."

"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."

"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government."

"Every generation has the right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness."

"I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his own labor."

"The moment a man casts loose from the principles of natural justice, he is inevitably lost."

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it."

"Among the most inestimable of our blessings, is that of having a free press."

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

"Nothing is more important than loyalty and integrity."

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

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

"Give me liberty, or give me death."

"We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather bed."

"I believe that every man, without exception, desires happiness."

"The arithmetic of discontent has never been favorable to power."

"I fear nothing so much as the division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader."

"The earth is a common inheritance of all mankind."

"Commerce between master and slave is despotism."

"This is the rock on which the Christian religion stands – that its sanction is in the conscience of every man."

"Men are disposed to live honestly if they can."

"The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live together in security and prosperity."

"That government is best which governs least."

"To preserve the independence of the states and the union, we must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."

"Self-interest is a principle that will always be uppermost in the breast of man."