I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.
Interpretation
The quote advocates for the freedom of religious expression and opposes any attempts to favor one religion over others.
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of religious freedom, arguing that no single religion should hold legal power or supremacy over others. This belief in equality among different faiths is foundational to a just and democratic society, where individuals can worship freely without fear of discrimination or persecution based on their beliefs.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of religious pluralism.
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.
Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.
may I be I is the only prayer--not may I be great or good or beautiful or wise or strong.
Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?
Of all classes the rich are the most noticed and the least studied.
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind of sit-down action.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.