Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on [political offices], a rottenness begins in his conduct.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, May 21, 1799. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 7, ed. Paul L. Ford (1896).)  

A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation.

 (Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. letter, Sept. 20, 1810. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 9, ed. Paul L. Ford (1898).)

You have lived longer than I have and perhaps may have formed a different judgment on better grounds; but my observations do not enable me to say I think integrity the characteristic of wealth. In general I believe the decisions of the people, in a body, will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, August 26, 1776, to Edmund Pendleton. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 504, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).)

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, June 12, 1815.)

Let those flatter, who fear: it is not an American art. To give praise where it is not due, might be well from the venal, but would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of human nature.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. "A Summary View of the Rights of British America..." (1774). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 134, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).) 

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, October 12, 1786.)

But is an enemy so execrable that tho in captivity his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed? I think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, March 27, 1779, to Patrick Henry. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2, p. 242, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).)

I sincerely believe ... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, May 28, 1816, to political philosopher and senator John Taylor, whose book An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the

Government

of the United States (1814) had argued against the harmful effects of finance capitalism.)

The selfish spirit of commerce, which knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, April 15, 1809. See also Jefferson's comment under "trade.")

If I could not go to heaven but with a [political] party, I would not go there at all.

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, March 13, 1789, to Francis Hopkinson. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 14, p. 650, ed. Julian P. Boyd, et al. (1950).)

 

(Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, January 5, 1808, to his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, p. 317, eds. E.M. Betts and J.A. Bear, Jr. (1966).)