When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.
Interpretation
Public officials must recognize their role as servants to the public and not as individuals with private interests.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the responsibility that comes with positions of power and public trust. When individuals take on roles that affect the lives of others, they must put the needs and interests of the public above their own, understanding that their decisions impact the community at large. It serves as a reminder that leadership is not about personal gain, but about serving and being accountable to the people.
In practice
In a discussion about ethical leadership, I shared Jefferson's quote to illustrate the importance of serving the people.
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.
To find a clear identity for the team - that is not about buying certain players for a lot of money. It is about getting players who want to play the right way.
Doing the easy thing makes you popular. Doing the hard thing makes you a leader.
Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
In peace-armies discipline meant the hunt, not of an average but of an absolute; the hundred per cent standard in which the ninety-nine were played down to the level of the weakest man on parade.... The deeper the discipline, the lower was the individual excellence; also the more sure the performance.
I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish - don't overdo it.
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