He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.
Interpretation
Lying can become a habit that corrupts one's moral character over time.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson highlights the dangers of lying and how it can lead to a pattern of deceit that not only becomes easier but also dulls the sense of truth. Once a lie is told, it becomes simpler to tell another, ultimately weakening one's integrity and the capacity for genuine belief in truth, thus corrupting the individual's moral disposition.
In practice
During a motivational speech about honesty in leadership.
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
We 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.
Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principal reason why men are so often useless is that they neglect their own profession or calling, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.
These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose and cherish: to care, to be fair, to be humble.
I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about.
Very rarely do people make big compromises with their integrity. Almost every compromise is a small one that is easily justified. The downhill slide is usually a result of many little compromises.
Love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is only your aversion to it that hurts, nothing else.
Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.
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