One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.
Interpretation
People often desire power or capacity for defense, even if they hope never to need to use it.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson reflects on the human tendency to seek means of protection or strength, such as arms or power, despite wishing for peace and safety where they are unnecessary. It highlights the paradox of wanting to be prepared for potential threats while desiring a world where such threats do not exist, suggesting a deeper contemplation on the balance between safety and the potential for conflict.
In practice
In a discussion about the Second Amendment and personal defense.
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 wasn't the sea of the inexorable horizon and smashing waves, not the sea of distance and violence, but the sea of the etenally leveling patience and wetness of water. Whether it comes to you in a storm or in a cup, it owns you--we are more water than dust. It is our origin and our destination.
During Lent, let us find concrete ways to overcome our indifference.
One can no longer live with people: it is too hideous and nauseating. Owners and owned, they are like the two sides of a ghastly disease.
When it comes to solving problems of poverty, impact investing can act as a catalyst, but it is not a silver bullet. Successful businesses serving the poor need more than investment capital. They also need infrastructure to enable effective distribution, strong regulatory systems, access to markets, technical assistance as they scale up, and more
Nirvana manifests as ease, as love, as connectedness, as generosity, as clarity, as unshakable freedom. This isnβt watering down nirvana. This is the reality of liberation that we can experience, sometimes in a moment and sometimes in transformative ways that change our entire life
I think the enemy is self-censorship. In a free society the biggest danger is that you're afraid to the point where you censor yourself.
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