Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.
Interpretation
The deterioration of the body is sad, but a body without an active mind is even more disturbing.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson reflects on the inevitable decay of the human body, recognizing it as a natural and gloomy aspect of life. However, he emphasizes that the true horror lies in the prospect of a body that exists devoid of a functioning mind, suggesting that our mental faculties and consciousness are what give life its true value and meaning.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of mental health and well-being.
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.
He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of the house to give embroidery lessons, and in which Amaranta had played Chinese checkers with Colonel Gerineldo Marquez, and in which Amarana Ursula had sewn the tiny clothing for the child, and in that flash of lucidity he became aware that he was unable to bear in his soul the crushing weight of so much past.
If you find yourself loving any pleasure more than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of the Lord, any table better than the Lord's table, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better than the hope of heaven β be alarmed.
The act of vagabonding is not an isolated trend so much as it is a spectral connection between people long separated by place and time, but somehow speaking the same language.
It takes billions of years to create a human being. And it takes only a few seconds to die.
Among the attributes of God, although they are equal, mercy shines with even more brilliance than justice.
I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the half-way, the almost, the just-about, the in-between.
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