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
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.
Tired with all these, for restful death I cry.
The light that Yoga sheds on life is something special. It is transformative. It does not just change the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees.
The word in language is half someone else’s… it exists in other people’s mouths, in other people’s contexts, serving other people’s intentions: it is from there that one must take the word, and make it one’s own.
Smell and taste differentiate, whereas language, like sight and hearing, integrates.
A little philosophy makes a man an Atheist: a great deal converts him to religion
Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.
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