I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
Interpretation
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes his skepticism toward a powerful government, viewing it as likely to be oppressive.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson expresses his belief that a highly energetic or powerful government tends to infringe on the liberties of individuals. He suggests that such governments, while often created with good intentions, can become oppressive and undermine the freedoms they are meant to protect.
In practice
In a discussion about government policies, this quote can illustrate the importance of maintaining personal freedoms.
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.
Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.
Sufis teach that we first must battle and destroy the evil within ourselves by shining upon it the good within, and then we learn to battle the evil in others by helping their higher selves gain control of their lower selves.
To practice Zen or the Martial Arts, you must live intensely, wholeheartedly, without reserve - as if you might die in the next instant
Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy.
Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.
But the Emperor has nothing at all on!
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.