Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of compassion towards all living beings as a measure of civilization.
Thomas Jefferson's quote suggests that true progress and civilization are defined not just by technological or societal advancements, but by our capacity for empathy and kindness towards all creatures. Without this compassion, we remain in a primitive state, unable to fully realize our humanity.
In practice
In a speech about animal rights, one could reference this quote to emphasize the need for compassion.
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.
There is a sense in which we are all each other's consequences
Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
On this narrow planet, we have only the choice between two unknown worlds. One of them tempts us - ah! what a dream, to live in that! - the other stifles us at the first breath.
Disease makes men more physical, it leaves them nothing but body.
It is worth while dying, to find out what life is.
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