Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, October 31, 2015 – Thomas Jefferson
“In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1776
And
“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of
our felicities.”
And
“Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.”
And
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
And
“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”
And
“Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.”
And
“As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.”
And
“Be polite to all, but intimate with few.”
And
“Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.”
And
“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”
And
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
And
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
And
“Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.”
And
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
And
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
And
“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.”
And
“For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.”
And
“I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greek and Roman leave to us.”
And
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.”
And
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
And
“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”
And
“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.”
And
“I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”
And
“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.”
And
“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.”
And
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
And
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
And
“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.”
And
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.”
And
“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.”
And
“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.”
And
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
And
“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”
And
“Never spend your money before you have earned it.”
And
“Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.”
And
“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.”
And
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”
And
“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.”
And
“There is not a truth existing which I fear… or would wish unknown to the whole world.”
And
“We never repent of having eaten too little.”
And
“When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.”
And
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
And
“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”
And
“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”
And
“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
And
“Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”
And
“The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes which may greatly afflict us; and, to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and misfortunes, should be one of the principal studies and endeavours of our lives. The only method of doing this is to assume a perfect resignation to the Divine will, to consider that whatever does happen, must happen; and that by our uneasiness, we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we may add to its force after it has fallen. These considerations, and others such as these, may enable us in some measure to surmount the difficulties thrown in our way; to bear up with a tolerable degree of patience under this burthen of life; and to proceed with a pious and unshaken resignation, till we arrive at our journey’s end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of him who gave it, and receive such reward as to him shall seem proportioned to our merit. Such, dear Page, will be the language of the man who considers his situation in this life, and such should be the language of every man who would wish to render that situation as easy as the nature of it will admit. Few things will disturb him at all: nothing will disturb him much.” Letter to John Page (15 July 1763)
And
“All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution.”
And
“I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.”
And
“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.” To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take
possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.
The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States, by the Constitution… They are not among the powers specially enumerated…” Opinion against the constitutionality of a National Bank (1791)
And
“The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption, and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. Funding I consider as
limited, rightfully, to a redemption of the debt within the lives of a majority of the generation contracting it; every generation coming equally, by the laws of the Creator of the world, to the free possession of the earth he made for their subsistence, unincumbered by their predecessors, who, like them, were but tenants for life.”
Letter to John Taylor (28 May 1816)
And
“A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life”
1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have it.
4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We never repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.
9. Take things always by their smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.”
Wikipedia Page: Thomas Jefferson
