Daily quote |
Thomas JeffersonI own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary. I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever. I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way. I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. If God is just, I tremble for my country. If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? |