Thomas Jefferson Democracy Quotes & Sayings

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. — Thomas Jefferson

Your biggest asset is a positive attitude. That more than anything else determines your earnings. — Ben Feldman

It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail. — Thomas Jefferson

People try to make sense of things, and if they don't know the answers, they make them up,because for some, a wrong answer is better than none. — Ann Aguirre

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe. — Thomas Jefferson

An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy. — Thomas Jefferson

Democracy as a system has evolved into something that Thomas Jefferson didn't anticipate. — Hunter S. Thompson

It wasn't easy being single and pushing forty in a big family group, and he guessed that's what was eating at her. He knew how it felt. He slept alone and he ate alone. He watched television alone and, when he was reading a book and came across an exceptionally good passage, he had nobody to share it with. — Shannon Stacey

She hated the beach, resented the places where she had played planet to Dick's sun. — F Scott Fitzgerald

The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations. — Thomas Jefferson

Once the law, properly enacted, is routinely ignored, and ignored with the blessing and the promotion of the political class, then you have a breakdown of organized society. And there is nothing compassionate about what's happening to the people of Arizona. There is nothing compassionate about the violation of private property rights. There is nothing compassionate about the abuse of the taxpayer. There is nothing compassionate about the closing of schools and hospitals. Nothing at all compassionate about increased drug trafficking and crime. Nothing compassionate about that at all. — Rush Limbaugh

Let us in education dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity — Thomas Jefferson

Eternal Vigilance is the price of democracy. — Thomas Jefferson

Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%. — Thomas Jefferson

But if there's an erosion at home, you know, Thomas Jefferson warned about a tyranny of an oligarchy and if we surrender our democracy to the tyranny of an oligarchy, we've made a terrible mistake. — Pat Robertson

And where else will [Hume,] this degenerate son of science, this traitor to his fellow men, find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of the society? Will it be in the minority? Or in an individual of that minority? — Thomas Jefferson

I know the way you move. I know the way you look at me. I see you see me, and you're the only one who looks at me that way. Whether I'm with you or away from you, I don't have to think about it or put the puzzle pieces together. It's just you. That's what I know. — Jennifer Niven

The whole life of Demosthenes ... leaves the impression of a melancholy state of things, and of the brazen insolence of wickedness. A particularly striking idea of how things really were in Greece can be obtained from one feature of life - the sons who turned out badly ... the sons of gifted but arrogant fathers turned out merely arrogant, the grandsons hopeless; it is respect alone that sustains families and gives them traditions. — Jacob Burckhardt

Thomas Jefferson taught that a democracy was impractical unless the people were educated. — Carl Sagan

We are sensible of the duty and expediency of submitting our opinions to the will of the majority, and can wait with patience till they get right if they happen to be at any time wrong. — Thomas Jefferson

The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate. — Thomas Jefferson

Had I realized while on Earth," he said, "that Hell was such a delightful place, I should have put more faith in the teachings of religion. As it was, I actually doubted its existence. A foolish error, cherie. I am pleased to say that you have converted me completely."
"I, too," observed Mr. Hamilton, helping himself to wine, "was something of an unbeliever in my time, and while never quite an atheist, like my arch-enemy Jefferson, I was still inclined to look upon Satan as merely a myth. Imagine my satisfaction to find him ruling a monarchy! You know I spent the greater part of my earthly existence fighting Mr. Jefferson and his absurd democratic ideas and now look at the damn country! Run by morons! — Frederic Arnold Kummer Jr.

Do I want to write a musical? No. I like to do musicals. — Laura Benanti

The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate. — Thomas Jefferson

If the measures which have been pursued are approved by the majority, it is the duty of the minority to acquiesce and conform. — Thomas Jefferson

A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate. — Thomas Jefferson

God has given me a life far beyond anything I ever dreamed about. God is, man, God is something else man. — Steve Harvey

The country is headed toward a single and splendid government of an aristocracy founded on banking institutions and moneyed incorporations and if this tendency continues it will be the end of freedom and democracy, the few will be ruling ... I hope we shall ... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government to trial and bid defiance to the laws of our country. I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies. — Thomas Jefferson

In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution. — Thomas Jefferson

The best part about being married is feeling centered. Nothing else matters so much as long as you can come home and be with your family. — Patrick Dempsey

In 1778, Jefferson presented to the Virginia legislature "A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge," in which he argued that all forms of government could degenerate into tyranny. The best way of preventing this, he wrote, is "to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large." The study of history could serve as an especially effective bulwark, allowing the people to learn how to defeat tyranny from past examples. Jefferson would return again and again to the importance of education in a democracy. — Fareed Zakaria

The executive power in our government is not the only, perhaps not even the principal, object of my solicitude. The tyranny of the legislature is really the danger most to be feared, and will continue to be so for many years to come. The tyranny of the executive power will come in its turn, but at a more distant period. — Thomas Jefferson

It is an axiom in my mind, that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the State to effect, and on a general plan. — Thomas Jefferson

Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them. — Thomas Jefferson

I'm really happy I went to a Catholic school because a lot of the repressive tactics they use make for great senses of humor. — Denis Leary

In a republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance — Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson presumed on the basis of colonial experience that farming and democracy are intimately connected. Cultivation of land meets the needs of the farmer, the neighbors, and the community, and and keeps people independent from domineering centralized powers. In Jefferson's time, [George] was the king. In ours, it's multinational corporations. — Barbara Kingsolver