Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Revolution

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

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

  Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

• The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Fall, Government, Hands

• 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.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Presidential, Political, Storm

  Letter to James Madison, 30 Jan. 1787

• I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that, considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Mean, Sleep

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.404

• Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Revolution, Republican

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.352

• Every generation needs a new revolution.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Famous Inspirational, Needs

• It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Order, Practice

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1859). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence”, p.246

• We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Death, Atheist, Philosophy

  "Freedom From The Known" by Jiddu Krishnamurti, 1969.

• Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Age, Trials

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

• I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government Debt, People, Revolution

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.26, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

• The day is not distant when we must bear and adopt [the abolition of slavery], or worse will follow.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Abolition Of Slavery, Revolution, Bears

• It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Essentials, Fixing, Revolution

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

• If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent and incapable of a wholesome care over so wide a spread of surface. This will not be borne, and you will have to choose between reform and revolution. If I know the spirit of this country, the one or the other is inevitable.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Government, Reform

  B. L. Rayner, Thomas Jefferson (1834). “Life of Thomas Jefferson: with selections from the most valuable portions of his voluminious and unrivalled private correspondence : with portrait”, p.349

• Still less let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Taxation, Earth, Territory

  "Jefferson: Writings".

• That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Law, People

  Thomas Jefferson, Jean M. Yarbrough (1963). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.16, Hackett Publishing

• All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Pursuit Of Happiness, Men, Liberty

• We need a revolution every 20 years just to keep government honest.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Years, Needs

• The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them, they cannot love us.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Equality, Two, Justice

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson memorial association of the United States (1907). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson”

• If our country, when pressed with wrongs at the point of the bayonet, had been governed by its heads instead of its hearts, where should we have been now? Hanging on a gallows as high as Haman's.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wisdom, Country, Heart

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.40, Cambridge University Press

• The foundation on which (our government is) built is the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence but that annexed to legal office, and particularly the denial of a pre-eminence by birth.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Office, Foundation

• Should [reformers] attempt more than the established habits of the people are ripe for, they may lose all and retard indefinitely the ultimate object of their aim.

  Thomas Jefferson

  People, May, Revolution

• To be really useful, we must keep pace with the state of society, and not dishearten it by attempts at what its population, means, or occupations will fail in attempting.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, Population, Pace

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.79

• No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see... all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what we wish, but what is practicable.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Government, Self

  Thomas Jefferson, Brett F. Woods (2009). “Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution”, p.292, Algora Publishing

• This formidable censor of the public functionaries [the press], by arraigning them at the tribunal of public opinion, produces reform peaceably, which must otherwise be done by revolution. It is also the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man and improving him as a rational, moral, and social being.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Mind, Public Opinion

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.324, Cambridge University Press

• Never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration; never saw even an elemental trait of painting or sculpture.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Black, Sculpture, Levels

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