“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on cer…”

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Verification

Attributed

Recorded by a reliable secondary source; exact wording may differ.

Imported from Wikiquote; not yet checked by QuoteQuest against the original source.

Source

Title: Wikiquote: Thomas Jefferson
Type: reference · Secondary source
Held by: Wikiquote

View source at Wikiquote

Context

Letter to Abigail Smith Adams from Paris while a Minister to France (22 February 1787), referring to Shay's Rebellion. "Jefferson's Service to the New Nation," Library of Congress

Cite this source

Jefferson, Thomas. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Thomas Jefferson. Wikiquote. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

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Provenance: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA)