Some quotes from Thomas Jefferson

I've been doing a little reading in Jefferson by Albert Jay Nock, about Thomas Jefferson's presidency. I cam across some really good quotes I thought I would share.

Concerning making public appearances as President, Jefferson wrote,"not reconciled to the idea of a chief magistrate parading himself through the several States as an object of public gaze and in quest of an applause which, to be valuable, should be purely voluntary. I had rather acquire silent good will by a faithful discharge of my duties than owe expressions of it to my putting myself in the way of receiving them."

At the beginning of his first term as President, Jefferson said this,"the path we have to pursue is so quiet that we have nothing scarcely to propose to our Legislature. A noiseless course, not meddling with the affairs of others, unattractive of notice, is a mark that society is going on in happiness."

Here is a great quote from Jefferson about seeking office. Jefferson said, "whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct."

Jefferson told this to James Madison before he became President, "the accounts of the United States ought to be, and may be, made as simple as those of a common farmer, and capable of being understood by common farmers."

And later to another, "the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union, should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses and consequently to control them."

Wouldn't it be nice to see our Governments financial records that simple and clear? Our own Congressmen do not understand the finances of our government, and the finances are so complicated how could they?