An attorney friend of mine sent me this today in an email. I haven't looked up each quote to verify its attribution, but I am familiar with several of them as authentic Jefferson statements, and I have absolute confidence in the honesty of the man who sent it to me. I just found it interesting, and am posting it here for others to read as desired.



Jefferson the prophet.


When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson

In light of the present financial crisis, it's interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Thunder,

I was sent your last quote by someone I admire, but it must have been in more of it's entirety, because it was substancially longer, and it is why this one really hits home for me


in regards to the bailouts.

Thanks for posting. I love reading anything that has to do with Thomas Jefferson.

While I dismiss much of the "legacy" of TJ (due to the fact that he kept and raped slaves)...I think the above quote is right on as it applies to abortion/bailouts/handouts.

He was crazy.

He made no sense in his life, saying one thing one day and then the exact opposite the next.

He writes of equality but owned slaves.

Not only was he a slave owner and a rapist, but a child rapist as well (14 is very much a child).

A psychopathic schizophrenic or something.

But reading his various writings today, it's weird how they make so much sense.

I've never understood this one. In the atomic age, how does the right to keep and bear arms protect us from tyranny?

Most men (in the broader "humanity" sense) tend to be a product of their age/era. What is socially acceptable now--righteous, even--does not necessarily have much to do with what was considered appropriate back then. I'm not trying to defend what they did back then as "right." I'm only saying that society at that time was what it was, our modern sense of right and wrong notwithstanding, and it was a rare human being in that era who was able to buck the popular tide and stand up against social dictates and mores. The founding fathers challenged what they saw and believed to be illegal, overbearing governmental authority. Without the success of that first challenge, none of the other progresses we have made since then would be nearly so likely to have occurred.

My opinion and I'm sticking to it.

tl

I think the above quote is right on as it applies to torture of prisoners, rendition policies, corrupt wars and treason activities such as exposing CIA operatives abroad.

Mr. W

He was a product of greed.

He convinced himself that blacks were not people, and therefore overrode his conscious, so he could keep them as slaves. They were afterall, in his own words, more valuable than land.

Nothing in his life made sense because he owned them as slaves, fathered several children with at least one of them that I have read about, treating them as family, but still thought of them as not really people. (at least the ones he fathered and got pregnant).

That does not make sense. Those are the acts of someone who has completely separated from what he proposed to believe, so he could make money through having total tyranny over them.

This is what he fought against in Government, but he practiced it in his own life with people that he owned.

It's such a disconnect.

Not so much as a product of his times IMO, but a product of greed, with the ability to disconnect from what he himself was doing to others. The times come into play because they allowed this form of free labor to satisfy the countries greed. They owned slaves to make money. Free labor. But back then not everybody owned slaves and I hope most people did not think it was okay.

Don't get me wrong I love reading what he wrote (but I think he was crazy), he understood so much of what has gone wrong with our economy. I get emails of his writings all the time especially in the last years with what all is coming to light in our nation.

So true.

One word.

Katrina.

It protects us from tyranny because, say we have a President who decides that he wants to be a dictator, knowing that the populace is armed and has the capability to form an army, he might want to think twice about that!

As in the Revolutionary War!

I'm reminded of something George Carlin said in one of his routines:

"America was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free."

I think many of the founding fathers are like a fish you caught 20 years ago...it keeps getting bigger and better as time passes.

I'd guess that most of them were already corrupt hypocrites by the time the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The only one I'd call "brilliant" was Benjamin Franklin.

thndrnltng,

I love historical quotes.

Smart man, TJ, flawed, but smart!

Looking back and hearing what has been said generations ago, helps all to see that there is nothing new under the sun.

I notice that nobody has commented on this quote. Odd...since our new President-elect wants to do exactly what it says. Or, maybe not so odd...

It just wouldn't be politically correct to say anything derogatory about all the lazy a$$es who want something for nothing and also wanted a senator, representative, and president that would give them exactly that.

The Working Poor


2008 Report

Particularly note THIS:

no surprises there. Considering whites make up more than 43% of the population it is no wonder they make up that high of a number on welfare. But when one looks at the actual percentage of a particular race on welfare, minorities are disproportionately represented. (Whites are represented at a factor < 1. Blacks are just < 3) There are statistics and then there are statistical lies.

People that refuse to educate themselves or look towards the future will earn substantially less than those that put a premium on eductation and bettering oneself.

Been a long time coming...but I just came across this when looking into another matter...

The quote above is a retro-quote...meaning, Jefferson didn't say it. It may also be true of many of the quotes above.

Snopes....Purported Jefferson quote

Moral of the story...research anything purportedly said by famous dead people like Washington, Jefferson, Edison, Einstein, Franklin, etc.

Mr. Wondering

I'm reading the most wonderfully delicious and interesting book NOW...in case anyone else is interested... THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO by Annette Gordon Reid..It is well-researched and well-documented...National Book Award Winner...