None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army
Interpretation
A nation must be prepared for self-defense and independence.
Thomas Jefferson's quote emphasizes the importance of a well-armed population for the security and sovereignty of a nation. He suggests that only a nation where the citizens are effectively armed can afford to not maintain a standing army, as such preparedness deters external threats and promotes self-governance.
In practice
During a debate on national security, one might cite this quote to advocate for gun rights.
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.
It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression.
Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.
It is curious that while good people go to great lengths to spare their children from suffering, few of them seem to notice that the one (and only) guaranteed way to prevent all the suffering of their children is not to bring those children into existence in the first place.
The maker of a sentence launches out into the infinite.
When I became a monk, it didn't feel like I was giving up that much. I actually felt like I had made the best decision, because anyone who hadn't focused on building themselves up was the one losing out.
There is nothing that God hath established in a constant course of nature, and which therefore is done every day, but would seem a Miracle, and exercise our admiration, if it were done but once.
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