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.
If a man had begun to hate an object of his love, so that love is thoroughly destroyed, he will, causes being equal, regard it with more hatred than if he had never loved it, and his hatred will be in proportion to the strength of his former love.
The sin of fallen man is this: Man seeks the benefits of God while at the same time fleeing from God Himself.
Let people return to making knots on ropes, instead of writing.
At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid.
There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind.
Our assessment of socio-economic worth is largely a sham. We scientists should not lend ourselves to it - though we routinely do. We should, instead, insist on applying the criterion of quality.
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