Every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should enforce on him.
Interpretation
Individuals have a fundamental responsibility to support their community, and laws should ensure this duty is fulfilled.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the inherent obligation of every person to contribute to the welfare of society. He suggests that the role of laws should be limited to ensuring these contributions are made, reflecting a belief in mutual responsibility and cooperation as essential elements of a functioning community.
In practice
In a community service meeting, this quote could inspire participants to reflect on their roles.
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.
We could not guard every water pipeline from being blown up and every tree from being uprooted. We could not prevent every murder of a worker in an orchard or a family in their beds. But it was in our power to set high price for our blood, a price too high for the Arab community, the Arab army, or the Arab governments to think it worth paying... It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce 'the policy of strength' toward Israel by turning it into a demonstration of weakness.
As a younger woman, that pressure got me down, but I've made my peace with it. With airbrushing and digital manipulation, fashion can project an unobtainable image that's dangerously unhealthy. I'm excited about the ageing process. I'm more interested in women who aren't perfect. They're more compelling.
For many terrorists, carrying out an attack allowed them to become the heroes of their own story.
I was always fascinated by people who are considered completely normal, because I find them the weirdest of all
Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.
What I am is a heretic who's recanted and, thereby, in everyone's eyes, saved his soul. Everyone's eyes but one, who knows deep down inside that all he has saved is his skin.
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