Because he was a prolific letter writer, Thomas Jefferson could well be the Buffet Founding Father. As we see here people take what they want and leave the rest on the table. So an extremely complicated, complex man is reduced to a few quotes, literally a one dimensional cartoon character. What people here ignore is that Jefferson often wrote one thing and did another. In this quote he railed against debt, yet he himself was constantly in debt with his farm business. Further as President he had no problem in secretly running up the country's debt. Let's not forget for all his brilliance Thomas Jefferson was often wrong and in the end was a POLITICIAN who loved POWER for himself.