One war, such as that of our Revolution, is enough for one life.
Interpretation
Jefferson suggests that experiencing one significant conflict in life is sufficient.
Thomas Jefferson reflects on the profound impact of experiencing a major conflict, such as the American Revolution. He implies that the lessons, losses, and transformations that come from such a significant event shape a person's life, underscoring the weight of historical struggles and the desire to avoid repeating such turmoil.
In practice
During a history lecture, when discussing the impact of the American Revolution.
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.
To all new truths, or renovation of old truths, it must be as in the ark between the destroyed and the about-to-be renovated world. The raven must be sent out before the dove, and ominous controversy must precede peace and the olive wreath.
That is the strangeness of language: it crosses the boundaries of the body, is at once inside and outside, and it sometimes happens that we don't notice the threshold has been crossed.
Whether we are New Dealer, Old Dealer, Liberty Leaguer or Red, whether we agree or not, we still have the right to think and speak how we feel.
But you who walk facing the sun, what images drawn on the earth can hold you?
Accuracy of signal and free flow of information define sanity in my epistemology.
A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.
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