“From the circumstances of my position, I was often thrown into the society of horse-racers, card-players, fox-hunters, scientific and professional men, and of dignified men; and many a time have I asked myself, in the enthusiastic moment of the death of a fox, the victory of a favorite horse, the issue of a question eloquently argued at the bar, or in the great council of the nation, well, which of these kinds of reputation should I prefer? That of a horse-jockey, a fox-hunter, an orator, or the honest advocate of my country's rights?”
Quote by Thomas Jefferson
The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and privateThis volume gathers the diverse literary output of Thomas Jefferson, one of America's founding fathers and a pivotal figure in the nation's early history. The collection encompasses his autobiographical writings, offering insight into his personal life and self-reflection. It includes his extensive correspondence with contemporaries, revealing his thoughts on politics, philosophy, science, and everyday matters. Official documents such as presidential messages and addresses are presented alongside private letters, providing a complete picture of Jefferson's roles as statesman, diplomat, and intellectual. The compilation reflects his wide-ranging interests in government, architecture, education, agriculture, and natural philosophy. This collected edition serves as a valuable resource for understanding the mind of one of America's most influential founders and the era in which he lived. more

Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, a distinguished politician, philosopher, architect, and scientist. He was born on April 13, 1743, and died on July 4, 1826. Jefferson advocated for democracy and freedom in politics and was one of the main authors of the Declaration of Independence. His political ideas had a profound impact on the founding and development of the United States. more
“In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all the little inconveniences and preferences which will gratify them, and deprive us of nothing worth a moment's consideration; it is the giving a pleasing and flattering turn to our expressions, which will conciliate others, and make them pleased with us as well as themselves. How cheap a price for the good will of another!”
“The physician is happy in the attachment of the families in which he practices. All think he has saved one of them, and he finds himself everywhere a welcome guest, a home in every house.”
Source: Correspondence
“It is wonderful to me that old men should not be sensible that their minds keep pace with their bodies in the progress of decay.”
Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1808-1816
“HIV infection and AIDS is growing - but so too is public apathy. We have already lost too many friends and colleagues.”
“Nothing betrays imbecility so much as the being insensible of it.”
Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State
“Had not a conviction of the danger to which an unlimited occupation of the executive chair would expose the republican Constitution of our Government, made it conscientiously a duty to retire when I did, the fear of becoming a dotard and of being insensible of it, would of itself have resisted all solicitations to remain.”
Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State
“There is a fulness of time when men should go, and not occupy too long the ground to which others have a right to advance.”
Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State
“It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also.”
Source: Jefferson: Political Writings
“The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation is ever dangerous.”
Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin. Reports and opinions while Secretary of State
“The truth is, that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those, calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in His genuine words.”
Source: Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson