Honesty, disinterestedness and good nature are indispensable to procure the esteem and confidence of those with whom we live, and on whose esteem our happiness depends.
Interpretation
Honesty and goodwill are essential for earning the respect and trust of others, which is vital for our happiness.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of being honest, selfless, and kind in our interactions with others. It suggests that these qualities not only help us to gain the esteem and confidence of those around us but also play a crucial role in determining our own happiness, as our well-being is often linked to the relationships we cultivate and the way we are perceived by those in our lives.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech emphasizing the importance of character in personal relationships.
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.
I like people too much or not at all. I've got to go down deep, to fall into people, to really know them.
If you have the opportunity to do amazing things in your life, I strongly encourage you to invite someone to join you.
People imagine that missing a loved one works kind of like missing cigarettes,' he said. 'The first day is really hard but the next day is less hard and so forth, easier and easier the longer you go on. But instead it's like missing water. Every day, you notice the person's absence more.
People don't contest that I'm British as a black man, but they do contest that I'm English. Too many people are going back to an ethnocentric idea of what being English means.
The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
People don't talk to you properly. It's the way they talk to you; they dismiss you. I think it's a combination of me being a woman and a foreigner.
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