Music...This is the favorite passion of my soul.
Interpretation
Music is a profound and cherished part of one's identity and emotional expression.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson expresses his deep affection for music, suggesting that it is not just a pastime but an essential aspect of his being. Music serves as an emotional outlet and a source of joy, highlighting its importance in the human experience and its ability to resonate with the soul.
In practice
During a speech on the importance of the arts, one could quote Jefferson to emphasize musicβs vital role in society.
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.
It is not opium which makes me work but its absence, and in order for me to feel its absence it must from time to time be present.
Weaknesses have a certain function in a poem... some strategy in order to pave the reader's way to the impact of this or that line.
Artists know that diligence counts as much, if not more, as inspiration; in art, as in politics, patience counts as much as revolution.
To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision.
Films that are entertainments give simple answers but I think that's ultimately more cynical, as it denies the viewer room to think. If there are more answers at the end, then surely it is a richer experience.
Not for a moment, beautiful aged Walt Whitman, have I failed to see your beard full of butterflies.
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