When we come to the moral principles on which the government is to be administered, we come to what is proper for all conditions of society. Liberty, truth, probity, honor, are declared to be the four cardinal principles of society. I believe that morality, compassion, generosity, are innate elements of the human constitution; that there exists a right independent of force.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of fundamental moral principles in governance and human nature.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson articulates the belief that certain moral principles such as liberty, truth, probity, and honor should guide the administration of government. He asserts that morality, compassion, and generosity are inherent to humanity, suggesting that true rights exist independently of coercive power. This perspective underscores the necessity of ethical foundations in society for the sake of justice and the common good.
In practice
In a speech advocating for ethical governance.
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.
Communism is the final logic of the dehumanization of man.
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos-especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom... Rather than starting inside, I start outside and reach the mental through the physical.
MYTHOLOGY, n. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later.
Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness.
I feel like the better version of myself is on paper... I'd rather have people know me on paper.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.