Thomas Jefferson Common Quotations

No nation is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober, where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage. It is, in truth, the only antidote to the bane of whiskey.

If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else.

I have great confidence in the common sense of mankind in general.

Common sense is the foundation of all authorities, of the laws themselves, and of their construction.

Difficulties indeed sometimes arise; but common sense and honest intentions will generally steer through them.

The art of governing consists simply of being honest, exercising common sense, following principle, and doing what is right and just.

I can never fear that things will go far wrong where common sense has fair play.

Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent.

Above all I hope that the education of the common people will be attended to so they won't forget the basic principles of freedom.

not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of . . . but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.

The ocean ... like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind.