If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was & never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty & property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe. . Thomas Jefferson
About This Quote

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States. He was not only a politician and a statesman, but he also held a high position in government and was a writer, philosopher, and politician. In this quote, Jefferson is warning the people of America that they must be willing to fight for their rights and rights of their fellow citizens if they want to be free and not under the tyrannical rule of the government. The people must be willing to fight for themselves and their rights if they want to be free and not under the tyrannical rule of the government

Source: The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 9: 1 September 1815 To 30 April 1816

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  1. I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power...
  2. Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.
  3. 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.
  4. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
  5. There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.
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