Happy Fourth Of July

On the occasion of my 500th post:

To my faithful readers in America: Congratulations on the 233rd anniversary of your Declaration of Independence.

Here are some timeless quotes from Thomas Jefferson which have as much relevance in today's world-- inside and outside of America-- as they had 233 years ago.

On making up one's own mind:

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself.

On newspapers (the "mainstream media" of Jefferson's day):

Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. . . . I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuchas he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors.

On the other hand:

Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.

On deficit spending:

I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.

On liberty and the law:

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the limits of the law" because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Plenty more here.