I have been long sensible that while I was endeavoring to render our country the greatest of all services, that of regenerating the public education, and placing our rising generation on the level of our sister states (which they have proudly held heretofore), I was discharging the odious function of a physician pouring medicine down the throat of a patient insensible of needing it.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the challenge of improving public education for a society that may not recognize its need.
Thomas Jefferson expresses the frustration of attempting to enhance public education in a nation that is apathetic or unaware of the benefits it would bring. He likens his efforts to a physician administering medicine to a patient who is unaware of their ailment; this illustrates the difficulty of fostering necessary change when it is not actively sought or appreciated by the populace.
In practice
During a speech on educational reform, this quote could be used to highlight the importance of advocating for better educational systems.
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.
Kids' hearts are malleable, but once they gel it's hard to get them back the way they were.
A few modern philosopher's assert that an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism.... With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.
Travel is rich with learning opportunities, and the ultimate sourvenir is a broader perspective.
Universities are not here to be mediums for the coercion of other people, they're here to be mediums for the free exchange of ideas.
One of the marks of a great teacher lies not only in an ability to impart knowledge but also in knowing when to encourage a student to go off on his own.
To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature.
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