The God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that life and liberty are divine gifts, suggesting that a nation must recognize and honor this connection to maintain its freedoms.
Thomas Jefferson's quote reflects a profound belief in the interconnection between the fundamental rights of life and liberty and their divine origin. He argues that for a nation to truly secure its liberties, it must acknowledge that these rights are bestowed by God, suggesting that moral and spiritual conviction underpins the foundation of freedoms within any society. The statement invites contemplation on the importance of recognizing a higher authority as essential to preserving the integrity and security of national liberties.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of human rights in a democratic 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.
Mr. Brown had thought of nothing but numbers. He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend on large crowds. Our Lord Himself stressed the importance of fewness. Narrow is the way and few the number. To fill the Lord's holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamoring for signs was a folly of everlasting consequence. Our Lord used the whip only once in His life - to drive the crowd away from His church.
We have peace with God as soon as we believe, but not always with ourselves. The pardon may be past the prince's hand and seal, and yet not put into the prisoner's hand.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Far from being the basis of the good society, the family, with its narrow privacy and tawdry secrets, is the source of all our discontents.
When I sleep I turn into a wolf. Bran turned his face away and looked back out into the night. Do wolves dreams?
The trouble with these people is that their cities have never been bombed and their mothers have never been told to shut up.
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