#jefferson

As the nation divided into Federalists and Republicans, each group called the other the worst name possible: "party". Most Americans feared the idea of party; believing that a society should unite to achieve the public good, they denounced parties as groups of ambitious men selfishly competing for power. Worse, parties were danger signals for a republic; if parties dominated a republic's politics, its days were numbered. ↗

— R.B. Bernstein

#parties #politics #republic #men

‎Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#marijuana #pot-smoking #thomas-jefferson #verenda #observation

The boldness of his mind was sheathed in a scabbard of politeness. ↗

— Dumas Malone

#boldness #courtesy #mind #politeness #scabbard

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large... ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#government #jefferson #education

I couldn't help but to think back to my classmates at Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio. They had the same talent, the same brains, the same dreams as the folks we sat with at Stanford and Harvard. I realized the difference wasn't one of intelligence or drive. The difference was opportunity. ↗

— Julian Castro

#back #brains #classmates #difference #dreams

In Jefferson's mind great historical leaps forward were almost always the product of a purging, which freed societies from the accumulated debris of the past and thereby allowed the previously obstructed natural forces to flow forward into the future. Simplicity and austerity, not equality or individualism, were the messages of his inaugural march. It was a minimalist statement about a purging of excess and a recovery of essence. ↗

— Joseph J. Ellis

#thomas-jefferson #equality

The adoption by Jefferson and the Republicans of the political structure of their opponents is of an importance hardly inferior to that of the adoption of the Constitution by the states. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#constitution #hardly #importance #inferior #jefferson

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt faced adversities that, in their times, seemed impregnable. Great presidents overcome great odds. ↗

— Ron Fournier

#faced #great #impregnable #jefferson #lincoln

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it, we respect that of others, without fearing it. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#thomas-jefferson #respect

If Thomas Jefferson thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how it is with representation. ↗

— Rush Limbaugh

#how #jefferson #representation #see #should