I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.
Interpretation
True belief cannot come from coercion or disbelief; it must be genuine.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of authentic belief and conviction. While he acknowledges that one may accumulate wealth through certain compulsory pursuits or regain health through medications that one may not fully believe in, he asserts that spiritual salvation or meaningful worship cannot be achieved through anything less than sincere faith. This reflects Jefferson's view on the significance of personal integrity and authenticity in matters of belief and worship.
In practice
In a discussion about faith, you might say this quote to emphasize the importance of genuine belief.
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.
"I should hope so," Laigle replied, "for my coat and I live comfortably together. It has assumed all my wrinkles, does not hurt me anywhere, has moulded itself on my deformities, and is complacent to all my movements, and 1 only feel its presence because it keeps me warm."
In America, as elsewhere, the general irritability level keeps rising.
What makes a nation great is not primarily its great men, but the stature of its innumerable mediocre ones.
Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness.
There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.
If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.
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