"When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property."
— Public trust

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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EthicsLaw
Original Language: English

Sources

Thomas Jefferson, to Baron Humboldt, reported in B. L. Rayner, Life of Thomas Jefferson (1834), p. 356. Rayner says the remark was made during a conversation in the president's office with Baron Alexander von Humboldt, the celebrated naturalist and traveler.