To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Interpretation
Forcing someone to fund ideas they oppose is unjust and oppressive.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the moral and ethical implications of coercing individuals to support ideas or causes that they fundamentally disagree with. It highlights the importance of freedom of thought and the rights of individuals to not be compelled to financially support beliefs or initiatives that conflict with their own values, illustrating the broader principle of personal autonomy and the dangers of tyranny in enforcing conformity of thought.
In practice
During a debate on funding for controversial programs, one could use this quote to argue against coercive funding.
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 skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won't tell.
The lies we live will always be confessed in the stories that we tell.
The Greeks are wrong to recognize coming into being and perishing; for nothing comes into being nor perishes, but is rather compounded or dissolved from things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being composition and perishing dissolution.
Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.
The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.
ACCUSE, v.t. To affirm another's guilt or unworth; most commonly as a justification of ourselves for having wronged him.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.