“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Archibald Stuart (23 December 1791)

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.”

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

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

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

“Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.”