The Declaration of Independence . . . [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.
Interpretation
The Declaration of Independence serves as a foundational document asserting human rights.
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of the Declaration of Independence as not just a political document, but as a fundamental declaration of the rights inherent to all people. It encapsulates the belief that individual rights are universal and serves as a guiding principle for liberty and justice.
In practice
Using this quote during a Fourth of July celebration to emphasize the importance of freedom.
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.
Let us with Caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.
Peace visits not the guilty mind.
When most people said "I'm psychic, you see," they meant "I have an overactive but unoriginal imagination/wear black nail varnish/talk to my budgie;" when Anathema said it, it sounded as though she was admitting to a hereditary disease which she'd much prefer not to have.
I think that our comfort is in our history.
Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.
So few humans seem to fully exist themselves that I wonder if all this endless speculation and haggling about God is really an exploration of a more interesting and embarrassing question about ourselves.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.