Quotation: "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."

Variations: None known.

Sources checked:
Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Digital Edition
Thomas Jefferson retirement papers
Thomas Jefferson: Papers and Biographies collections in Hathi Trust Digital Library

Other attributions: None known.

Earliest appearance in print: undetermined

Comments: This quotation has not been found in Thomas Jefferson's papers. It has been suggested that it is a paraphrase of Jefferson's statement in the Declaration of Independence, "...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...," although such a paraphrase would seem to be taking some radical liberties with the original version. The quotation bears a much closer resemblance to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s comment in his famous letter from Birmingham Jail: "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."


Quotation: "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Variations: None known.

Sources consulted: Searching on the phrase "democracy will cease to exist" and "willing to work"
Monticello website
Ford's Works of Thomas Jefferson
L&B (CD-ROM version)
UVA EText Jefferson Digital Archive: Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, Thomas Jefferson on Politics and Government, Texts by or to Thomas Jefferson from the Modern English Collection
Thomas Jefferson Retirement Papers
Quotable Jefferson (searching in the index under "democracy" and "work")

Earliest known appearance in print: 1986[1][2]

Earliest known appearance in print, attributed to Jefferson: See above.

Other attributions: None known.

Status: This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears a very vague resemblance to Jefferson's comment in a prospectus for his translation of Destutt de Tracy's Treatise on Political Economy: "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, -€˜the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.'"


Pay attention fellas.

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Yeah, and he didn't bang all of his slaves.....

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This is way to erudite for this board.

Please refrain.

Thank you and have a nice day.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Thats why the only Jefferson i attribute quotes to is George

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"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

My favorite quotation from Thomas Jefferson is: "They may be the eggmen, but I am the walrus. Coo coo ca choo."

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Isnt that in 312's sig?

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I don't know. Just like I'm not sure if the other one is in Scorehead's sig.

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This is my signature...

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

That actually was a Thomas Jefferson quote.

What a strange coincidence.

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I never met anyone that quotes Thomas Jefferson. You guys must hang with a pretty fast crowd.

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This is my signature...

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You might like him, he was a drinker.

News you can use fellas. May I inquire what spurned this threadformation?

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- Doug Plank

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Yeah, I hate those guys who use Thomas Jefferson quotes in their signatures

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

hahhahahaha! Dork!

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Damn you, Ivan. Great minds think alike.

The darker the flesh, the deeper the roots...

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My favorite is:

"When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye, and asks you if you paid your dues; you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Thomas Jefferson always says at a time like that: "Have you paid your dues, Thomas? Yessir, the check is in the mail.""

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MY GUY!!!!!

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