I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.
Interpretation
True freedom depends on the common people rather than the wealthy elite.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of the average citizen in maintaining the liberty of a society. He suggests that societal freedom relies more on the collective will and strength of the general population than on the influence of the wealthy or elite classes, advocating for a democratic view where the voice of the people is paramount in sustaining freedom and governance.
In practice
This quote can be used to inspire a discussion in a political class about the role of citizens in democracy.
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.
Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.
Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines.
If in a country, most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few, then this country can hardly witness harmony and stability.
...two thirds of all sorrow is homemade and, so far as the universe is concerned, unnecessary.
The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, acting as an agent of man's self-defense, and, as such, may only resort to force only against those who start the use of force.
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,_x000D_ _x000D_ But bad mortality o'ersways their power,_x000D_ _x000D_ How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,_x000D_ _x000D_ Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
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