Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor – over each other. – Thomas Jefferson
The purse of the people is the real seat of sensibility. Let it be drawn upon largely, and they will then listen to truths which could not excite them through any other organ. – Thomas Jefferson
A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit. – Thomas Jefferson
The second office in the government is honorable and easy the first is but a splendid misery. – Thomas Jefferson
Then your words of abuse today may turn into a universally valid principle of denigration, for words are magical formulae. They leave fingermarks behind on the brain, which in the twinkling of an eye becomes the footprints of history. One ought to watch one’s every word. – Franz Kafka, quoted by Gustav Janouch, Conversations with Kafka