I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

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

An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry.

Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

I cannot live without books.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

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 have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.

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

The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper.

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

We never repent of having eaten too little.

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.

The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism.

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

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.

In defense of our persons and properties under actual violation, we took up arms. When that violence shall be removed, when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, hostilities shall cease on our part also.

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.

Be polite to all, but intimate with few.

An injured friend is the bitterest of foes.

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

It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it.

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.

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

My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.

Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.

Delay is preferable to error.

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.