No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see... all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what we wish, but what is practicable.
Interpretation
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of practicality in governance over mere wishes for self-government.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson conveys his belief in the fundamental right of all people to govern themselves. However, he acknowledges the gap between idealistic desires and the realities of what can actually be achieved. This underscores a philosophical tension between hopes for universal self-governance and the practical limitations that must be considered in political affairs.
In practice
This quote can be used during a political debate to discuss the challenges of implementing democratic ideals.
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.
I don't want to prove anything; I merely want to live, to do no one harm but myself. I have the right to do that, haven't I?
Human rights, of course, must include the right to religious freedom, understood as the expression of a dimension that is at once individual and communitarian - a vision that brings out the unity of the person while clearly distinguishing between the dimension of the citizen and that of the believer.
How did Rue end up on that stage with nothing but the wind offering to take her place?
We often fancy that we suffer from ingratitude, while in reality we suffer from self-love.
But sometimes I fear that the people of my country can unite only beside victims' bodies, over coffins and in cemeteries. Like tribesmen who dance around old totems, we ignore the living and can only appreciate the dead.
My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience.
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