Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty.
Interpretation
Citizens have obligations to obey laws, but there are higher ethical duties to consider.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes that while obeying the laws of one's nation is indeed an important responsibility for any citizen, it is not the ultimate moral obligation. It suggests that there are greater principles, such as justice, morality, and human rights, which may sometimes take precedence over the strict adherence to laws.
In practice
During a civic education class discussing 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.
When a government betrays the people by amassing too much power and becoming tyrannical, the people have no choice but to exercise their original right of self-defense β to fight the government.
A journey never ends. Only the travellers end.
Man has his being in truth--if he sacrifices truth he sacrifices himself. Whoever betrays truth betrays himself. It is not a question of lying--but of acting against one's conviction.
Being a model to the world, eternal virtue will never falter in you, and you return to the boundless.
Power is a trick. It lies where we believe it lies.
Every single person, pretty much, is taught what they're supposed to do: go to school, get a job, find someone to love, get married, have kids, raise the kids, and then die. Nobody questions that. What if you want to do something different?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.