My confidence is that there will for a long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses.
Interpretation
Jefferson expresses his belief in the moral integrity of the people to address and rectify societal issues.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson conveys his confidence in the character and rationality of his fellow citizens. He suggests that, despite the presence of problems or injustices in society, there exists a fundamental goodness and sense among the people that will enable them to recognize and correct these abuses over time. This reflects a hopeful perspective on human nature and civic responsibility.
In practice
During a community meeting to address local issues, one might quote Jefferson to inspire confidence in collective action.
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
βWe 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.
You can accept or reject the way you are treated by other people, but until you heal the wounds of your past, you will continue to bleed. You can bandage the bleeding with food, with alcohol, with drugs, with work, with cigarettes, with sex, but eventually, it will all ooze through and stain your life. You must find the strength to open the wounds, stick your hands inside, pull out the core of the pain that is holding you in your past, the memories, and make peace with them.
The white fathers told us: I think, therefore I am. The black goddess within each of us - the poet - whispers in our dreams: I feel, therefore I can be free.
To praise it would amount to praising myself. For the entire content of the work... coincides almost exactly with my own meditations which have occupied my mind for the past thirty or thirty-five years.
In the eyes of the ego, self-esteem and humility are contradictory. In truth, they are one and the same.
I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.
Does he council you better who bids you, Money, by right means, if you can: but by any means, make money ?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.