Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of fundamental freedoms in guiding society through challenges and changes.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson highlights essential freedoms such as religion, press, personal liberty, and the right to fair trials as fundamental principles that have shaped and guided society throughout times of upheaval. He refers to these principles as a 'bright constellation,' suggesting that they illuminate the path toward justice and progress, particularly during periods of revolution and reformation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about civil liberties during a human rights conference.
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.
In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence.
If we are Christians, we must look like Christ - this is my deep conviction.
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act.
Sometimes I am asked if I know 'the response to Auschwitz; I answer that not only do I not know it, but that I don't even know if a tragedy of this magnitude has a response.
A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.
Whatever the public blames you for, cultivate it; it is yourself.
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