Newspapers

I have given up newspapers in exchange for Tacitus and Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid; and I find myself much the happier

Source: Thomas Jefferson in a Letter to John Adams, 1812 (unsourced)
Taken From: Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences 1948 

Mental Attitudes

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude 

Source:  Unknown, commonly attributed to Thomas Jefferson
Taken From: InternetIndependence.com; The Passion Myth 8/5/2011

The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms

No slave shall keep any arms whatever, nor pass, unless with written orders from his master or employer, or in his company, with arms from one place to another. Arms in possession of a slave contrary to this prohibition shall be forfeited to him who will seize them.

Source: Thomas Jefferson
Taken From:  A Bill Concerning Slaves, Virginia Assembly, 1779

Resistance to Government

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

Source: Thomas Jefferson
Letter to James Madison (30 January 1787); referring to Shays' Rebellion

Resistance to Government

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.

Source: Thomas Jefferson
Letter to Abigail Smith Adams from Paris while a Minister to France (22 February 1787), referring to Shay's Rebellion

On Government

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. 

Source:  George Washington (Disputed, see Wikiquote)
Taken From: Wikiquote

Religion and Law

it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

Source: Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781
Taken From:  Ron Paul, Liberty Defined (pg 107) section on Evolution Versus Creation, 2011

Justice and Trepidation

Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever . . ." 

Source: Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia1781-1782
Taken From:  Chris Manion, LRC Blog 4/18/2011

Economy and Debt

I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.

Thomas Jefferson (21 July 1816, Letter to William Plumer)

Jefferson and Gun Control [edited]

The laws ... which forbid to wear arms, disarming those only who are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent. ... It certainly makes the situation of the assaulted worse, and of the assailants better, and rather encourages than prevents murder, as it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons.

Cesare Beccaria (1764, Essay on Crimes and Punishments)

A similar quote is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but he merely included the above passage in his "Legal Commonplace" Book.  That quote that is often attributed to him is below.  Thanks to "Josh" in the comments section for bring this to my attention.

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

Jefferson and Bacon

I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.

Thomas Jefferson (February 7, 1788, Letter to Alexander Donald)

Public Opinion v Pretense of Governing

I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, & restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe.

Thomas Jefferson (Jan. 16. 1787, Letter to Edward Carrington)

Waste and Happiness

If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.

Thomas Jefferson (To Thomas Cooper, 1802)

Taxation, Debt and Chains

To preserve [the] independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion  and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.

Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:39

Property and Society

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of G0d, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.

John Adams 

Vote for the End

When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.

Benjamin Franklin

Democratic Demise

Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide

John Adams

Oppressive Majority

The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society.

Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1816. ME 14:490

Boisterous Sea of Liberty

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.

Thomas Jefferson, April 24, 1796

Education and Freedom

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Thomas Jefferson