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.
Pain and suffering are in themselves bad and should be prevented or minimized, irrespective of the race, sex, or species of the being that suffers. How bad a pain is depends on how intense it is and how long it lasts, but pain of the same intensity and duration are equally bad, whether felt by humans or animals.
Life is a long preparation for something that never happens.
Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide.
The aim of torture is to destroy a person as a human being, to destroy their identity and soul. It is more evil than murder.
Privacy about giving is counterproductive. There is solid scientific research showing that people are more likely to give if they can see that others are giving. The richest people, in particular, should be setting an example.
Most of us are reflecting life and not affecting it. Your inner speech mirrors your mind, and your mind mirrors God. If you_x000D_ do not change your thoughts, you haven't changed their activity. And if_x000D_ you do not change their activity, the conditions of your life cannot_x000D_ change, for they are only bearing witness to the inner action of your_x000D_ mind.
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