[If a book were] very innocent, and one which might be confided to the reason of any man; not likely to be much read if let alone, but if persecuted, it will be generally read. Every man in the United States will think it a duty to buy a copy, in vindication of his right to buy and to read what he pleases.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of intellectual freedom and how censorship can increase interest in ideas.
Thomas Jefferson highlights the paradox of censorship: books that might otherwise remain unread gain attention when they are persecuted or banned. This response not only reflects the inherent human desire for freedom of thought but also encourages individuals to assert their rights by engaging with controversial works, underscoring the vital role of literature in fostering open discourse and critical thinking within society.
In practice
In a speech about the value of free speech, one might say, 'As Thomas Jefferson reminds us, persecution of ideas only fuels our desire to read and understand them.'
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The sweetest path of life leads through the avenues of learning, and whoever can open up the way for another, ought, so far, to be esteemed a benefactor to mankind.
Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent.
Certainly the prolonged education indispensable to the progress of society is not natural to mankind.
Our teachers deserve better feedback.
Growth and psychic development are therefore guided by: the absorbent mind, the nebulae and the sensitive periods, with their respective mechanisms. It is these that are hereditary and characteristic of the human species. But the promise they hold can only be fulfilled through the experience of free activity conducted in the environment.
While we pay lip service to the virtues of reading, the truth is that there is still in our culture something that suspects those who read too much, whatever reading too much means, of being lazy, aimless dreamers, people who need to grow up and come outside to where real life is, who think themselves superior in their separateness.
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