American Presidents

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

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

—Thomas Jefferson

If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.

—Thomas Jefferson

How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.

—Thomas Jefferson

Never trouble another with what you can do yourself.

—Thomas Jefferson

I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

—Thomas Jefferson

Nothing is troublesome that one does willingly.

—Thomas Jefferson

I cannot live without books.

—Thomas Jefferson

Never buy a thing you do not want, because it is cheap, it will be dear to you.

—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

Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.

—George Washington

I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound.

—George Washington

Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

—George Washington

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

—George Washington

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

—Thomas Jefferson

When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.

—George Washington

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

—George Washington

But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

—George Washington

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

—George Washington

Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind than on the externals in the world.

—George Washington

There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.

—George Washington

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government.

—George Washington

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation.

—George Washington

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.

—George Washington

Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.

—George Washington

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

—George Washington

To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

—George Washington

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

—George Washington

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

—George Washington

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

—George Washington