When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.
Interpretation
Corruption in a Republic cannot be fixed without addressing the root causes and restoring foundational values.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes that when a Republic becomes corrupted, the only effective solution is to eliminate the corruption and return to the core principles on which it was built. Jefferson warns that attempting to address the symptoms of corruption without tackling the underlying issues will either be ineffective or lead to further problems, stressing the importance of foundational values in governance.
In practice
In a speech discussing the importance of maintaining democratic values in society.
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.
We have somehow conned ourselves into the notion that this moment is ordinary. This now moment, in which I'm talking and you're listening, is eternity.
I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tomb of the Capulets.
The propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained...
If my devils are to leave me, I'm afraid my angels will take flight as well.
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
My understanding of my faith is that - through a Christian framework - part of what we are called to do is to lay down our own self-interests, after the model of divinity that comes into this world in the form of Christ and lays down his life. And in order to do that, you have to care about something or someone more than yourself.
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