The Earth is given as a common for men to labor and live in.
Interpretation
The Earth belongs to everyone and is meant for our work and sustenance.
Thomas Jefferson's quote emphasizes the idea that the Earth is a shared resource meant for all of humanity. It suggests that we have a responsibility to both labor upon the land and to live harmoniously within it, highlighting the interconnectedness of people and nature and the importance of stewardship over our planet.
In practice
At an environmental conference discussing sustainability.
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.
Once you've been in space, you appreciate how small and fragile the Earth is.
Basically, I think 21st century conservation is moving toward preserving ecosystems by dealing with the needs of people.
A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.
Primate and elephant and even pig societies show considerable evidence of care for others, parent-child bonding, solidarity in the face of danger, and so on.
Nature seems to take advantage of the simple mathematical representations of the symmetry laws. When one pauses to consider the elegance and the beautiful perfection of the mathematical reasoning involved and contrast it with the complex and far-reaching physical consequences, a deep sense of respect for the power of the symmetry laws never fails to develop.
There is a harmony In autumn, and a luster in its sky...
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