"the qualifications for self-government in society are..." - Quote by Thomas Jefferson

“The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.”

“He who is permitted by law to have no property of his own, can with difficulty conceive that property is founded in anything but force.”

“The ordinary affairs of a nation offer little difficulty to a person of any experience.”

“We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles . The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”

“We act not for ourselves but for the whole human race. The event of our experiment is to show whether man can be trusted with self - government.”

“May it be to the world... to assume the blessings and security of self-government.”

“Education is not received. It is achieved.”

“They teach in academies far too many things, and far too much that is useless.”

“I believe that our own experience instructs us that the secret of Education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained, and he only holds the key to his own secret. By your tampering and thwarting and too much governing he may be hindered from his end and kept out of his own. Respect the child. Wait and see the new product of Nature. Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions. Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.”