While the farmer holds the title to the land, actually, it belongs to all the people because civilization itself rests upon the soil.
Interpretation
Land ownership reflects a collective responsibility, as civilization is built upon it.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson suggests that although a farmer may have legal ownership of the land, the importance of that land transcends individual property rights. It emphasizes the idea that land is a communal resource that plays a crucial role in the foundation of civilization, implying that everyone benefits from and is responsible for the stewardship of the earth.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about sustainable farming practices at a community meeting.
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.
If he be so resolved, I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betrayed with trees And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers
The most difficult We do not deal in facts when we are contemplating ourselves.
We are domesticated animals, revolving in a cage which we have built for ourselves - with its contentions, wranglings, its impossible political leaders, its gurus who exploit our self-conceit and their own with great refinement or rather crudely.
God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing. You may fool me, but you can't fool God!
In saving Tibet, you save the possibility that we are all brothers, sisters.
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.
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