I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
Interpretation
Jefferson emphasizes the importance of economic prudence and warns against the dangers of public debt.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson highlights the value he places on economic responsibility within a republic. He considers a sound economy as a cornerstone of good governance while simultaneously warning that relying on public debt poses a significant threat to the nation's integrity and stability. This perspective underlines the belief that fiscal discipline is crucial for the prosperity and survival of a democratic society.
In practice
During a town hall meeting focused on budgeting and public finance, one might reference this quote to stress the importance of fiscal responsibility.
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.
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.
There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.
Food, one assumes, provides nourishment; but Americans eat it fully aware that small amounts of poison have been added to improve its appearance and delay its putrefaction.
The realities of the world affected me as visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams became, in turn,βnot the material of my every-day existence--but in very deed that existence utterly and solely in itself.
The right to life is the first human right. Abortion is killing someone that cannot defend himself.
I care little in the existence of a heaven or hell; self respect does not allow me to guide my acts with an eye toward heavenly salvation or hellish punishment. I pursue the good in life because it is beautiful and attracts me; and shun the bad because it is ugly and repulsive. All our acts should originate from the spring of unselfish love, whether there be a continuation after death or not.
The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.
When resources become skimpy, human beings don't suddenly cooperate to conserve what's left. They fight to the last scrap for possession of a diminishing resource.
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