If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the value of companionship and social interaction outweighs the desire for individual gain or spiritual reward.
Thomas Jefferson's quote reflects the idea that personal connections and the enjoyment of shared experiences with others are more meaningful than solitary achievements, even in the pursuit of lofty goals such as entering Heaven. It emphasizes the importance of community and relationships, suggesting that a joyful experience is preferred over a solitary one, even if that means foregoing something traditionally considered desirable, like eternal paradise.
In practice
During a speech at a community gathering, when discussing the importance of relationships in our lives.
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 wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.
The point is that our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It's who we are right now, and that's what we can make friends with and celebrate.
The most awful tyranny is that of the proximate Utopia where the last sins are currently being eliminated and where, tomorrow, there will be no more sins because all the sinners will have been wiped out.
The Scripture abounds in commands and cautions for our utmost diligence in our search and inquiry as to whether we are made partakers of Christ or not, or whether His Spirit dwells in us or not-which argue both the difficulty of attaining an assured confidence herein, as also the danger of our being mistaken, and yet the certainty of a good issue upon the diligent and regular use of means to that purpose.
The possibility of killing one's self is a safety valve. Having it, man has no right to say life is unbearable.
But lost chances are as much a part of life as chances taken, and a story cannot dwell on what might have been.
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