Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 779 |
| AUTHOR: | Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) |
| QUOTATION: | The main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man…. [are] the sole objects of all legitimate government. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | In the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty is a plaque inscribed with this quotation, lacking the first clause above. |
| SUBJECTS: | Government—purpose of |