Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body & mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. altho’ I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and, most of all, in matters of government and religion; and that the diffusion of knolege among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801–09)

Letter (1816-04-24) to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
    (Source)

The first sentence is inscribed in Cox Corridor II, a first floor corridor on the House side of the US Capitol, Washington, DC.