If we are made in some degree for others, yet in a greater are we made for ourselves. It were contrary to feeling and indeed ridiculous to suppose that a man had less rights in himself than one of his neighbors, or indeed all of them put together. This would be slavery, and not that liberty which the bill of rights has made inviolable, and for the preservation of which our government has been charged.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of individual rights and self-ownership while acknowledging our connections to others.
Thomas Jefferson's quote reflects on the balance between our duties to others and our rights to ourselves. He argues that while we may be created for the benefit of others, our primary responsibility is to ourselves, asserting that every individual has inherent rights that cannot be diminished by societal obligations. Jefferson considers the idea of subservience to others as a form of slavery, contrasting it with the fundamental liberties that should be upheld by government, as enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about personal freedom and individual rights.
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.
The history of empires is the record of human misery; the history of the sciences is that of the greatness and happiness of mankind.
The cynic says, "One man can't do anything". I say, "Only one man can do anything."
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look
A community where everyone is a ruthless murderer, with handy access to death-dealing devices, is a very polite community.
There is no losing in Jiu-Jitsu. You either win or you learn.
It is my experience that the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake us up -release us from the bonds of ego and guide us home to our vast true nature.
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