A free, virtuous, and enlightened people must know full well the great principles and causes upon which their happiness depends.
James MonroeRead
Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Peace creates an environment where progress and prosperity can thrive.
In this quote, James Monroe emphasizes the importance of peace as a foundation for development and success. He suggests that during times of peace, societal activities such as commerce and tax payment are more effective, leading to greater revenue and overall improvement in various facets of life.
Themes
PeaceImprovementPreparationCommerceRevenue
In practice
Example use cases
You can use this quote during a seminar on economic development to highlight the importance of stable environments.
More from James Monroe
All quotes →Of the liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury of the vicinage in civil and criminal cases; of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear arms.... If these rights are well defined, and secured against encroachment, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny.
James MonroeRead
[In a republic,] it is not the people themselves who make the decisions, but the people they themselves choose to stand in their places.
James MonroeRead
How prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism.
James MonroeRead
It was by one Union that we achieved our independence and liberties, and by it alone can they be maintained.
James MonroeRead
I enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.
James MonroeRead
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War can be avoided, and it ought to be avoided. I want no war.
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Here's a notion: Peace in the Middle East would come about more easily if the region were governed by women.
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