Quotes Thomas Jefferson Quotes Those who desire to give up Freedom in order to gain Security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one. Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty. Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind. It is error alone which needs the support of government.
Truth can stand by itself.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. Do not bite the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals, our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties. Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong. 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.