I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe.
Interpretation
Jefferson argues that a primarily agricultural society promotes virtuous governance, while urbanization leads to corruption.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson reflects on the relationship between agricultural societies and the ethical quality of governance. He suggests that as long as a nation remains largely agrarian with access to vacant lands, its governments can maintain virtue and integrity. However, he warns that as populations concentrate in large cities, similar to those in Europe, they are likely to experience corruption and moral decline due to the complexities and challenges of urbanization.
In practice
In a speech about sustainable development, you could reference this quote to emphasize the importance of agricultural practices.
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.
Comic books, movies, radio programmes centered their entertainment around the fact of torture. With the clearest of consciences, with a patriotic intensity, children dreamed, talked, acted orgies of physical abuse. Imaginations were released to wander on a reconnaissance mission from Cavalry to Dachau. European children starved and watched their parents scheme and die. Here we grew up with toy whips. Early warning against our future leaders, the war babies.
I have not seen much dignity in the process by which we die. The quest to achieve true dignity fails when our bodies fail.
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.
The possible ranks higher than the actual.
Thus it is that "Some things are increased by being diminished, others are diminished by being increased." What others have taught, I also teach; verily, I will make it the root of my teaching.
The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded. Therefore, anything that has the semblance of an external authority is rejected by Zen. Absolute faith is placed in a man's own inner being. For whatever authority there is in Zen, all comes from within.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.