“I steer my bark with Hope in the head, leaving Fear astern.”

— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams (8 April 1816)

About Thomas Jefferson

1743 – 1826

American statesman, principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States.

“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.”

“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”

“Let those flatter who fear; it is not an American art.”

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

“Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.”