Although our prospect is peace, our policy and purpose are to provide for defense by all those means to which our resources are competent.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of defense while striving for peace as a goal.
Thomas Jefferson's quote reflects the dual approach of seeking peace but recognizing the necessity of being prepared for defense. It underscores the idea that while the ultimate aim may be harmony and tranquility, it is crucial to have the means to protect oneself and oneβs values when faced with threats, suggesting a balance between idealism and pragmatism in policy.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about national security to highlight the need for preparedness while advocating for peaceful solutions.
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.
The human body is vapor materialized by sunshine mixed with the life of the stars.
Not only around our infancy Doth heaven with all its splendors lie; Daily, with souls that cringe and plot, We Sinais climb and know it not.
So, is there an afterlife, and if so, what will it be like? I don't have a clue. But I am confident that the one who has buoyed us up in life will also buoy us up through death. We die into God. What more that means, I do not know. But that is all I need to know.
I mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course.
Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?
If you could meet your grandkids as elderly citizens in the year 2100 ⦠you would view them as being, basically, Greek gods⦠that's where we're headed.
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