Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the incompatibility of conquest with democratic principles.
Thomas Jefferson asserts that the idea of conquest conflicts with the foundational beliefs of a government that values liberty and democratic ideals. He suggests that a true government should not pursue expansion through force, as such actions undermine the principles of equality and self-governance that it represents.
In practice
In a political speech discussing the importance of maintaining peaceful relations with other countries.
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.
Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?
We are but whirlpools in a river of ever-flowing water. We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves. _x000D_ A pattern is a message, and may be transmitted as a message.
The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done.
Those thinkers who cannot believe in any gods often assert that the love of humanity would be in itself sufficient for them; and so, perhaps, it would, if they had it.
When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
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