Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the US, a founding father, main author of the Declaration of Independence, horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia.  Here are some of his assorted thoughts:

• The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not
• It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good
• I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have
• Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it
• Be polite to all, but intimate with few
• Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do
• In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock
• I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past
• A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine
• It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world
• When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on
• Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
• I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be
• Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you
• Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto
• Information is the currency of democracy
• When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one 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
• Never spend your money before you have earned it

The first one is my favorite from this batch-- I think Joe the Plumber would agree.

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Related posts:
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Government
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Liberty
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Tyranny
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Friends and Enemies
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Freedom
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Newspapers
Words of Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson on Opinions
The Bill of Rights (Our Rights . . . Lest We Forget)