A free, virtuous, and enlightened people must know full well the great principles and causes upon which their happiness depends.
Interpretation
Understanding the principles of happiness is essential for a free and virtuous society.
This quote emphasizes the importance of knowledge and awareness among individuals in a society that values freedom and virtue. James Monroe suggests that for a population to truly achieve happiness, they must grasp the foundational principles and causes that contribute to their well-being, indicating that enlightenment and understanding are key components of a fulfilled life.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of education in democracy.
Of the liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury of the vicinage in civil and criminal cases; of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear arms.... If these rights are well defined, and secured against encroachment, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny.
Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.
[In a republic,] it is not the people themselves who make the decisions, but the people they themselves choose to stand in their places.
How prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism.
It was by one Union that we achieved our independence and liberties, and by it alone can they be maintained.
I enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.
Among those who share a throne there can be no loyalty; Dominion's ever impatient consort.
A man who examines each subject from a philosophical standpoint cannot neglect them: he has to omit nothing, and state the truth about each topic.
God intends... our care of Creation to reflect our love for the Creator.
Death and Famine and War and Pollution continued biking towards Tadfield. And Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty To Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Them A Good Thumping but secretly No Alcohol Lager, and Really Cool People travelled with them.
Ela acreditava em anjo e, porque acreditava, eles existiam" | "She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed
I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
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