Thomas Jefferson

"All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression."

--Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801

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Alexander Hamilton

"In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend."

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 31, 1788

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Benjamin Franklin

"If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it, whenever our legislators shall please so to alter the law and shall chearfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself."

--Benjamin Franklin, 1789

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James Madison

"As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions."

--James Madison, National Gazette Essay, 1792

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Thomas Jefferson

"If, then, the control of the people over the organs of their government be the measure of its republicanism, and I confess I know no other measure, it must be agreed that our governments have much less of republicanism than ought to have been expected; in other words, that the people have less regular control over their agents, than their rights and their interests require."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1816

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Samuel Adams

"If virtue & knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslav'd. This will be their great security."

--Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1779

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Thomas Jefferson

"Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, 1784

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Mark Twain

"Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."

--Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

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Thomas Jefferson

"No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Washington, 1792

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John Adams

"It already appears, that there must be in every society of men superiors and inferiors, because God has laid in the constitution and course of nature the foundations of the distinction."

--John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

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Alexander Hamilton

"It is a singular advantage of taxes on articles of consumption that they contain in their own nature a security against excess. They prescribe their own limit, which cannot be exceeded without defeating the end purposed -- that is, an extension of the revenue."

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 21

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Rabindranath Tagore

"I slept and dreamt
That life was joy.
I awoke and saw
That life was duty.
I acted and behold
Duty was joy."

--Rabindranath Tagore.

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Thomas Jefferson

"Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you... From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, 1785

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Thomas Jefferson

"Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you... From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, 1785

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