Thomas Jefferson

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

"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty."

"If it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience."

"A nation which expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, expects that which never was and never will be."

"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."

"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."

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

"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led."

"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led."

"There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people."

"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be."

"In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue."