Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.
Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.
Never spend your money before you have it.
Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.
We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.
An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.
I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.
If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.
I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. but we cannot always do what is absolutely best. those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. truth advances, & error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step. [Comment on establishing Jefferson's University of Virginia, a secular college, in a letter to Thomas Cooper 7 October 1814]