If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the value of companionship and social interaction outweighs the desire for individual gain or spiritual reward.
Thomas Jefferson's quote reflects the idea that personal connections and the enjoyment of shared experiences with others are more meaningful than solitary achievements, even in the pursuit of lofty goals such as entering Heaven. It emphasizes the importance of community and relationships, suggesting that a joyful experience is preferred over a solitary one, even if that means foregoing something traditionally considered desirable, like eternal paradise.
In practice
During a speech at a community gathering, when discussing the importance of relationships in our lives.
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.
Who ARE You?" This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.
If you live in New York, even if you're Catholic, you're Jewish
In the end, the only events of my life worth telling are those when the imperishable world erupted into this transitory one All other memories of travels, people and my surroundings have paled beside these interior happenings But my encounters with the 'other' reality, my bouts with the unconscious, are indelibly engraved on my memory. In that realm there has always been wealth in abundance, and everything else has lost importance by comparison.
In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.
Under conditions of peace the warlike man attacks himself.
Life will show you masks that are worth all your carnivals
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