A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest duties of a good citizen: but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation.

Thomas Jefferson

Read this letter at the National Archives website

More information about this quote

Topic

Rule of law Civic duty Citizenship

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1810 1810s 19th century

Occupation

Founding Father American President National leader Politician

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to John B. Colvin. 20 Sept. 1810.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "J. B. Colvin, Sep. 20, 1810." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Thomas Jefferson about rule of law: “A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest…”
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A quote by Thomas Jefferson about rule of law: “A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest…”
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A quote by Thomas Jefferson about rule of law: “A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Thomas Jefferson

What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment... Inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote
Topic
Duality of man

Author

Thomas Jefferson
Medium
Letter
Language
English
Time
1786 1780s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Jean Nicholas Demeunier. 24 Jan. 1786.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, edited by H. A. Washington. Vol. 9, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Another quote from the 1810s

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.

John Philpot Curran

More information about this quote
Topic
Price of freedom Freedom
Speaker
John Philpot Curran
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1816 1810s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Curran, John Philpot. Speech on the right of election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. 10 July 1790, Dublin, Ireland.