"I have but one system of ethics..." - Quote by Thomas Jefferson
I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations - to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements under all circumstances, to be open and generous, promoting in the long run even the interests of both
More by Thomas Jefferson
“...in war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them”
“A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe, for felicity.”
“An industrious farmer occupies a more dignified place in the scale of beings...than a lazy lounger...too proud to work, and drawing out a miserable existence by eating on that surplus of other men's labor.”
More on Ethics
“It was a pleasure to deal with a man of high ideals, who scorned everything mean and base, and who possessed those robust and hardy qualities of body and mind, for the lack of which no merely negative virtue can ever atone.”
“Don't make to others what you don't want them to make to you.”
“Non-co-operators will make a serious mistake if they seek to convert people to their creed by violence.”
More on Morality
“If science produces no better fruits than tyranny... I would rather wish our country to be ignorant, honest and estimable as our neighbouring savages are.”
“... pure honesty is a doubtful quality; it means often lack of imagination.”
“And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.”