I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowlege among the people. no other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness.
Interpretation
The spread of knowledge is essential for ensuring freedom and happiness in society.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the critical role that education and the dissemination of knowledge play in maintaining a free and happy society. He believes that without a well-informed and educated populace, the ideals of freedom cannot be sustained, highlighting the intrinsic link between knowledge and the foundation of a successful democracy.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of public education in modern society.
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.
Access to quality education has enabled me to reach far beyond the Bangladeshi village I grew up in.
Misbehavior and punishment are not opposites that cancel each other - on the contrary they breed and reinforce each other.
We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.
Children who are respected learn respect. Children who are cared for learn to care for those weaker than themselves. Children who are loved for what they are cannot learn intolerance. In an environment such as this, they will develop their own ideals, which can be nothing other than humane, since they grew out of the experience of love.
There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write 'damnation' with your fingers.
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