Timeless Inspiration: 50+ Founding Fathers Quotes to Empower Your Journey

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

- Thomas Jefferson

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

- Thomas Paine

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."

- John Adams

"Well done is better than well said."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

- John Adams

"You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

- John Adams

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

- Benjamin Franklin

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

- James Madison

"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Always stand on principle…even if you stand alone."

- John Adams

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

- James Madison

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

- Benjamin Franklin

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."

- John Hancock

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."

- Benjamin Franklin

"If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was de­bated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men. A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States."

- John Adams

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

- Benjamin Franklin

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

- John Adams

"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

- Ben Franklin

"It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a People always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence."

- George Washington

"To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions."

- Benjamin Franklin

"In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example … of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness."

- James Madison

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."

- James Madison

"Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

- John Adams

"Whenever you do something, act as if all the world were watching."

- Thomas Jefferson

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."

- George Washington

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

- Benjamin Franklin

"The people are the only legitimate fountain of power."

- James Madison

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light."

- George Washington

"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company."

- George Washington

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

- Thomas Jefferson

"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

- John Adams

"Liberty, according to my metaphysics, is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power."

- John Adams

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."

- Alexander Hamilton

"Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly."

- Alexander Hamilton

"Conscience is the most sacred of all property."

- James Madison

"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness."

- James Wilson

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite."

- James Madison

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition."

- Thomas Jefferson

"[T]he general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws: its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any."

- James Madison

"It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it."

- James Madison

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

- James Madison

"A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."

- James Madison

"The principle of the Constitution is that of a separation of Legislative, Executive and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, it is clearly the spirit of the Constitution …"

- Thomas Jefferson

"As good government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make laws. The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few of the most wise and good."

- John Adams

"I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master."

- Thomas Jefferson

"We may define a republic to be … a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior."

- James Madison

"The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy."

- Benjamin Franklin

"It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion, loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused."

- John Jay

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

- John Adams

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own."

- James Madison

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned — this is the sum of good government."

- Thomas Jefferson

"America, an immense territory, favour’d by nature with all advantages of climate, soil, great navigable rivers and lakes, &c., was destined to become a great country, populous and mighty; and would in a less time than was generally conceive’d be able to shake off any shackles that might be impos’d on her, and perhaps place them on the imposters."

- Benjamin Franklin

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

- Thomas Jefferson

"They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great Confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate."

- James Madison

"It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force."

- Alexander Hamilton

"I wish the Constitution which is offered, had been made more perfect; but I sincerely believe it is the best that could be obtained at this time. And, as a constitutional door is opened for amendment hereafter, the adoption of it, under the present circumstances of the Union, is in my opinion desirable."

- George Washington

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"

- Benjamin Franklin

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. they are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

- Alexander Hamilton

"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

- Thomas Jefferson

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event."

- Thomas Jefferson

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

- Thomas Jefferson

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

- Thomas Paine

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

- Thomas Paine

"One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle."

- James Otis

"The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die."

- George Washington

"While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."

- George Washington

"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

- John Adams

"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition."

- James Madison

"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."

- George Washington

"Pure democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

- James Madison

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all."

- George Washington

"Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing."

- Alexander Hamilton

"I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery."

- George Washington

"The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money."

- James Madison

"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other."

- John Jay

"Power over a man’s subsistence is power over his will."

- Alexander Hamilton

"The makers of our Constitution were not a congregation of religious enthusiasts. If they protected religion from the intrusive propensities of all government and its functionaries, it was not because they loved churches and doctrines. It was because they loved freedom, and hated tyranny, especially tyranny over the mind. They knew that religion cannot exist except in a mind. The First Amendment protects not churches, but individuals, minds. It affirms that the inner life of individuals is none of government’s damned business."

- Richard Mitchell

"The establishment of civil and religious liberty was the motive which induced me to the field."

- John Jay

"No power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent."

- John Jay

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."

- James Madison

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."

- James Madison

"If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American, it is, that we should have nothing to do with conquest."

- Thomas Jefferson

"A well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous."

- Alexander Hamilton

"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt."

- John Adams

"Those who own the country ought to govern it."

- John Jay

"When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, a hundred."

- Thomas Jefferson

"The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape in to any form they please."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them. As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see; But I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

- Ben Franklin

"I own I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."

- Thomas Jefferson

"The propriety of a law, in a constitutional light, must always be determined by the nature of the powers upon which it is founded."

- Alexander Hamilton

"I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

- Thomas Jefferson

"I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America."

- Benjamin Franklin

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."

- George Washington

"Learn to think continentally."

- Alexander Hamilton

"I cannot live without books."

- Thomas Jefferson

"The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts."

- John Jay

"Distrust naturally creates distrust, and by nothing is good will and kind conduct more speedily changed."

- John Jay

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."