The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Interpretation
Government should only intervene in actions that harm others, not in personal beliefs.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson highlights the principle of individual freedom, arguing that the government's authority should only encompass actions that cause harm to others. Jefferson emphasizes that personal beliefs, whether they relate to religion or philosophy, do not warrant governmental interference as they do not directly harm individuals or their property, thereby advocating for tolerance and the separation of personal belief from state power.
In practice
During a speech on civil liberties, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting personal beliefs.
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.
The rise of capitalist practice and morality brought with it a radical revision of how the commons are treated, and also of how they are conceived.
The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extra human architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish.
Whenever you go through the length and breadth of our country... you see a long face: you will see the long face of an African woman because she's black, because she's poor.
All things must; man is the only creature that wills.
Big Brother is not the only danger facing the country. Another is the rising tide of distrust, the corrosive spread of cynicism, the fraying of the social fabric and the rise of people who are so individualistic in their outlook that they have no real understanding of how to knit others together and look after the common good.
I think there's a large worry in queer communities about imitating straight people, when queerness has its own identity and maybe can be a radical force that should be dismantling stuff that locks people into structures.
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