there is a fulness of time when men should go, & not occupy too long the ground to which others have a right to advance.

—--Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 17 Aug. 1811  {More}

and I have observed this march of civilisation advancing from the sea coast, passing over us like a cloud of light, increasing our knolege and improving our condition … and where this progress will stop no one can say.

—Thomas Jefferson to William Ludlow, 6 Sept. 1824  {More}

…all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty.

—Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 31 July 1785  {More}

when I contemplate the immense advances in science, and discoveries in the arts which have been made within the period of my life, I look forward with confidence to equal advances by the present generation; and have no doubt they will consequently be as much wiser than we have been, as we than our fathers were, and they than the burners of witches.

—Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, 3 Mar. 1818  {More}

I am not of the school which teaches us to look back for wisdom to our forefathers. from the wonderful advances in science and the arts which I have lived to see, I am sure we are wiser than our fathers & that our sons will be wiser than we are.

—Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 6 Feb. 1818  {More}