On The Inconveniences of Small Government

"It has been said too that our governments both federal and particular want energy; that it is difficult to restrain both individuals & states from committing wrong.  This is true, & it is an inconvenience.  On the other hand that energy which absolute governments derive from an armed force, which is the effect of the bayonet constantly held at the breast of every citizen, and which resembles very much the stillness of the grave, must be admitted also to have it's inconveniences.  We weight the two together, and like best to submit to the former.   

Compare the number of wrongs committed with impunity by citizens among us, with those committed by the sovereign in other countries, and the last will be found most numerous, most oppressive on the mind, and most degrading of the dignity of man."

(Emphasis added by Double Birds)

Jefferson quote source: Answers to Demeunier's Queries. January 24, 1786

On Public Education

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes."

(Emphasis added to Jefferson quote by Double Birds)

Source: A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge