Quotes from Thomas Jefferson

About Author

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776). He was elected the second Vice President of the United States (1797–1801), serving under John Adams and was elected the third President (1801–09) in 1800.
Complete biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

"Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind."
"Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital."
"It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness."
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government."
"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time."
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."
"Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits."
"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors."
"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way."
"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."
"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."
"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on."
"The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money."
"When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred."