Those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy - the most sublime and benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man - endeavored to crush your well-earned & well-deserved fame.
Interpretation
This quote critiques those who manipulate religious beliefs to maintain their own importance, fearing that clarity will expose their deceit.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson highlights the conflict between genuine understanding of Christian philosophy and the actions of individuals who distort it for personal gain. He asserts that those who thrive on ambiguity and deception fear a simplified version of Christian teachings that might reveal their trickery, thus attempting to undermine the reputation of those who strive for truth and simplicity in their discourse.
In practice
In a discussion about the integrity of philosophical ideas in a debate setting.
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 greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man, - you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind, - I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that.
The true greatness of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual.
I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.
What if someone gave a war and Nobody came?
Of all the grief's that harass the distressed; sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.
Am I a weed, carried this way, that way, on a tide that comes twice a day without a meaning?
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