Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.
Interpretation
Learning is a vital part of life, and time is our most precious resource.
This quote emphasizes the importance of continual learning and self-improvement. Jefferson suggests that each day that passes without the acquisition of knowledge is a day wasted, highlighting that time is the most valuable asset one possesses, and how we utilize it shapes our lives fundamentally.
In practice
In a motivational speech about education and self-improvement.
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'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
On being asked by someone how he could become famous, Diogenes responded: 'By worrying as little as possible about fame
Be patient, because the weaknesses of the body are given to us in this world by God for the salvation of the soul. So they are of great merit when they are borne patiently.
My company survives because I've learned to respect the ideas of people younger than me and recognize when my wisdom is obsolete.
Anyone can live contentedly in circumstances of ease and comfort, health and well-being gratification and felicity; but to remain happy and contented in the face of difficulty, hardship and the onslaught of disease and sickness-this is an indication of nobility.
In order to eat, you have to be hungry. In order to learn, you have to be ignorant. Ignorance is a condition of learning. Pain is a condition of health. Passion is a condition of thought. Death is a condition of life.
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