"God forbid we should ever be twenty..." - Quote by Thomas Jefferson
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion... We have had thirteen States independent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half, for each State. What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion.
More by Thomas Jefferson
“It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.”
“Though [the people] may acquiesce, they cannot approve what they do not understand.”
“not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of . . . but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.”
More on Rebellion
“A dirty joke is not, of course, a serious attack on morality, but it is a sort of mental rebellion, a momentary wish that things were otherwise.”
“My call is the call of battle- I nourish active rebellion;/ He going with me must go well armed.”
“Let them call me rebel, and welcome, I feel no concern from it.”
More on Government
“But when no risk is taken there is no freedom. It is thus that, in an industrial society, the plethora of laws made for our personal safety convert the land into a nursery, and policemen hired to protect us become selfserving busybodies.”
“A delightful form of government, anarchic and motley, assigning a kind of equality indiscriminately to equals and unequals alike!”
“Do something, Congress. Do anything.”