Thomas Jefferson - An Author of Wisdom

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, was key to the formation of our great nation, and the author of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the author of many wise thoughts.

One that has always impressed me as to his courage and desire to stand for good is carved into the interior walls of his monument in Washington, D.C. - a very impressive monument. It says:

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

There are many other great sayings by this great, though imperfect man. He offered us his own list of 10 Commandments:

1. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have earned it.
4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap.
5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We seldom report of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain evils have cost us that have never happened!
9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak, if very angry, count a hundred.

More quotes by Thomas Jefferson:

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness.

Peace, prosperity, liberty and morals have an intimate connection.

The order of nature [is] that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue.

Without virtue, happiness cannot be.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

The moral sense [is] the first excellence of well organized man.

The greatest honor of a man is in doing good to his fellow men, not in destroying them.

A conviction that we are right accomplishes half the difficulty of correcting wrong.

I have ever deemed it more honorable and more profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one.

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

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

He does best in God's great world who does his best in his own little world.

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

Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.

When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred.

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.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.