We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.
Interpretation
The quote means that the efforts of raising armies should not be for personal or national glory, but for a greater purpose.
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes that the true purpose of raising armies is not to seek glory or engage in conquest, but rather to uphold values, protect freedom, and serve a higher cause. This highlights a moral perspective on leadership and the responsibilities that come with power, suggesting that military might should be a means to an ethical end rather than an end in itself.
In practice
In a speech about military involvement, one might reference this quote to emphasize ethical leadership.
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.
Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control.
If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.
Oh for someone with a heart, head and hand. Whatever they call them, what do I care, aristocrat, democrat, autocrat, just be it one that can rule and dare not lie.
The first lady is, and always has been, an unpaid public servant elected by one person, her husband.
Bosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news, disappointing data or hard problems.
If we allow the celebrity rock-star model of leadership to triumph, we will see the decline of corporations and institutions of all types. The twentieth century was a century of greatness, but we face the very real prospect that the next century will see very few enduring great institutions.
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