I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.
Interpretation
True belief cannot come from coercion or disbelief; it must be genuine.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of authentic belief and conviction. While he acknowledges that one may accumulate wealth through certain compulsory pursuits or regain health through medications that one may not fully believe in, he asserts that spiritual salvation or meaningful worship cannot be achieved through anything less than sincere faith. This reflects Jefferson's view on the significance of personal integrity and authenticity in matters of belief and worship.
In practice
In a discussion about faith, you might say this quote to emphasize the importance of genuine belief.
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.
I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
No citizen enjoys genuine freedom of religious conviction until the state is indifferent to every form of religious outlook from Atheism to Zoroastrianism.
Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. "Once upon a time" is how all the best children's stories begin, and "prostitute" is a word for adults. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But since, at every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss, let's keep that beginning.
I felt we must separate political responsibility. The Dalai Lama should not carry that burden. So that is my selfish reason - to protect the old Dalai Lama tradition. It is safer without political involvement.
The doing evil to avoid an evil cannot be good.
However much you feed a wolf, it always looks to the forest. We are all wolves of the dense forest of Eternity.
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