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Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people.
Thomas Jefferson
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The government can only help its citizens if it also has the power to influence or regulate them.

This quote by Thomas Jefferson suggests that the effectiveness of a government in providing support or benefits to its citizens is directly linked to its ability to exert influence or control over them. It highlights the balance between governance and individual freedoms, implying that the government's authority must be exercised with consideration for the well-being of the people, ensuring that it acts in their best interest while maintaining order and structure within society.

Themes

GovernmentInfluencePeoplePowerControl

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote during a political debate to emphasize the responsibilities of government.

More from Thomas Jefferson

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.
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I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
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β€ŽWe 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.
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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.
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A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
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Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
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