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.
The mere absence of war is not peace.
It was all very well going on about pure logic and how the universe was ruled by logic and the harmony of numbers, but the plain fact of the matter was that the Disc was manifestly traversing space on the back of a giant turtle and the gods had a habit of going round to atheists' houses and smashing their windows.
How could this world be so unlike the world that I believed I was living in? I can't describe it. Do I not want to describe it, or do I simply not possess the vocabulary?
Truly, there is a Christian note which makes the whole World vibrate, like an immense gong, in the divine Christ. This note is unique and universal, and in it alone consists the Gospel.
The unrealistic nature of these tales (which narrowminded rationalists object to) is an important device, because it makes obvious that the fairy talesβ concern is not useful information about the external world, but the inner process taking place in an individual.
Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters in your skull.
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