Honesty, disinterestedness and good nature are indispensable to procure the esteem and confidence of those with whom we live, and on whose esteem our happiness depends.
Interpretation
Honesty and goodwill are essential for earning the respect and trust of others, which is vital for our happiness.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of being honest, selfless, and kind in our interactions with others. It suggests that these qualities not only help us to gain the esteem and confidence of those around us but also play a crucial role in determining our own happiness, as our well-being is often linked to the relationships we cultivate and the way we are perceived by those in our lives.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech emphasizing the importance of character in personal relationships.
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.
What a terrible thing it is to wound someone you really care for and to do it so unconsciously.
I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. You didn't get past something like that, you got through it.
My marriage to Marjorie is the most rewarding thing that ever happened to me. She gave me a life and a relationship that I didn't know existed.
The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.
Not gay, just never met the right woman.
We're trained to see only male or female and to plot people into those categories when they actually don't fit neatly at all. But if we pause, watch and listen closely we'll see the multiplicity of ways in which people are sexed and gendered. There exists a range of personal identifications around woman, man, in-between-we don't even have names or pronouns that reflect that in between place but people certainly live in it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.