Thomas Jefferson Quotes

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.

Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.

If we bring not the good courage of minds covetous of truth, and truth only, prepared to hear all things, and decide upon all things, according to evidence, we should do more wisely to sit down contented in ignorance, than to bestir ourselves only to reap disappointment.

One must be truthful and honest in his approach; a constant independent inquiry and not blindly following a certain blue print laid down by others

I have one request: may I never use my reason against truth.

A life of total dedication to the truth also means a life of willingness to be personally challenged.

I'm not trying to counsel any of you to do anything really special except dare to think. And to dare to go with the truth. And to dare to really love completely.

I say, let us think. Let each one express his thought. Let us become investigators, not followers, not cringers and crawlers. If there is in Heaven an infinite being, he never will be satisfied with the worship of cowards and hypocrites.

The scientist is a lover of truth for the very love of truth itself, wherever it may lead.

What separated Ed Murrow from the rest of the pack was courage.

You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.

The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.

What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?

As scientists, we need to not be afraid of the truth.

The truth won't set us free - until we develop the skills and the habit and the talent and the moral courage to use it.

He who dares not reason, is a slave.

A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing.

I am not 'in pursuit of truth.' It is not my 'quarry.' I am of my human nature a thinker, and conscious of need, responsibility of thinking-speaking with truth. I do not go about hunting 'truths.'

The more history I learnt, the less interested I got in winning arguments and the more interested in establishing the truth.

A philosopher goes where the truth leads and has no patience with mere emotion.

Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recognition of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open.

It is a principle innate and co-natural to every man to have an insatiable inclination to the truth, and to seek for it as for hidden treasure

Seek the company of those who are looking for the truth, but run from those who have found it.

All I claim, all I plead for, is liberty of thought and expression. That is all. I do not pretend to tell what is absolutely true, but what I think is true. I do not pretend to tell all the truth..

I think what's important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.