More Quotes by Thomas Jefferson
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.
The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.
Equal rights for all, special privileges for none
To learn, you have to listen. To improve, you have to try.
When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.
The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart.
It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
