Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of respecting the fruits of hard work and labor.
Thomas Jefferson's quote highlights the ethical responsibility to honor the effort that laborers put into their work, symbolized by the 'bread' they earn. It serves as a reminder that taking from those who work hard undermines their dignity and rights, advocating for fairness and respect in the distribution of earned rewards.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about workers' rights and fair wages.
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.
This is the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers. Away; go. They say there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.
We have hands; we can stand on them if we want to. That's our privilege. That's the joy of a mortal body. And that's why God needs us. Because God loves to feel things through our hands.
It's not speech per se that allows democracies to function, but the ability to agree - eventually, at least some of the time - on what is true, what is important and what serves the public good. This doesn't mean everyone must agree on every fact, or that our priorities are necessarily uniform.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.
Are you scared?β asked Mr. Ibis. βNot really.β βWell, try to cultivate the emotions of true awe and spiritual terror, as we walk. They are the appropriate feelings for the situation at hand.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.