Industry, commerce and security are the surest roads to the happiness and prosperity of people.
Interpretation
Economic stability and security contribute significantly to people's happiness and prosperity.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson highlights the vital role that industry, commerce, and security play in ensuring the well-being and prosperity of people. It suggests that a thriving economy and a stable society are essential foundations for achieving happiness and improving the quality of life for individuals and communities.
In practice
This quote could be used during a community meeting discussing local economic development.
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 ultimate happiness is doing nothing.
The first and perhaps most important thing to realize about being happier in life is to stop trying to be so happy in life.
There is nothing quite so satisfying, and so healing, as a good cry.
It's fun to have money, but the more money I get, the less interesting it becomes. If you don't have very much, you have to think about it. If you are starving, you become interested in food. If you are struggling to pay the bills, money becomes tragically important.
I like bars just after they open in the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar -- that's wonderful.
Happiness is not mere pleasure, not the outcome of wealth. It is the result of active work rather than passive enjoyment of pleasure.
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