All authority belongs to the people... In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief with chains of the Constitution.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that the power of authority should rest with the people and be limited by constitutional constraints.
Thomas Jefferson's quote articulates a fundamental democratic principle that the ultimate authority belongs to the populace rather than individual leaders. He warns against the blind trust placed in men and advocates for a system where power is restricted and checked by a framework, namely the Constitution, to prevent abuse and mischief.
In practice
In a speech advocating for civic engagement, one could say, 'Remember, all authority belongs to the people.'
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.
I have always eaten animal flesh with a somewhat guilty conscience.
It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.
I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too.
The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through.
No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures. No ascetic can be considered reliably sane.
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