[I]f vice and corruption prevail, liberty cannot subsist; but if virtue have the advantage, arbitrary power cannot be established.
Interpretation
Liberty depends on virtue, not corruption; without virtue, oppressive power thrives.
Algernon Sidney suggests that true liberty can only flourish in an environment of virtue and moral integrity. When vice and corruption dominate society, the foundations of freedom become unstable, allowing arbitrary power to take root. Conversely, when virtue prevails, it serves as a safeguard against tyranny and oppression, reinforcing the importance of moral character in the maintenance of liberty.
In practice
In a speech about governance, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of ethics in political leadership.
Fruits are always of the same nature with the seeds and roots from which they come, and trees are known by the fruits they bear: as a man begets a man, and a beast a beast, that society of men which constitutes a government upon the foundation of justice, virtue, and the common good, will always have men to promote those ends; and that which intends the advancement of one man's desire and vanity, will abound in those that will foment them.
If you want the truth rather than merely something to say, you will have a good deal less to say.
Things themselves don't hurt or hinder us. Things simply are what they are. How we view these things is another matter.People think what they will think; it is of no concern to us.
My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh.
You are done for - a living dead man - not when you stop loving but stop hating. Hatred preserves: in it, in its chemistry, resides the mystery of life.
When civilization takes a nose dive, how can you look away? You've got to be there. You've got to be at the bottom of the swimming pool taking notes.
The only secret people keep is immortality.
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