FastSaying

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

SocietyControlDiscretionEnlightenedEnoughExerciseInformKnowPeoplePowersRemedySafeTakeThemThemselvesThinkUltimateWholesome

Related Quotes

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
— Thomas Jefferson
GovernmentAloneEvery
We must be contented to amuse, when we cannot inform
— Thomas Jefferson
AmuseContentedInform
Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
— Thomas Jefferson
EducateInformLiberty
The secretary did not exercise her discretion lawfully in the manner contemplated by this court's directive.
— Dexter Douglass
DiscretionExercise
The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.
— Thomas Jefferson
DisputesNoticeReligious