“The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”
―
―
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
― Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
― Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
“And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.”
― Letters of Thomas Jefferson
― Letters of Thomas Jefferson
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”
― Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
― Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
― Letters of Thomas Jefferson
― Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Terry’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Terry’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Terry
Lists liked by Terry






