The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction.
Interpretation
Civil government should not be concerned with personal opinions.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the idea that government should not meddle in the personal beliefs and opinions of individuals. It suggests that a free society allows people to hold and express differing views without interference from governmental authority, thus underpinning the principles of personal liberty and freedom of expression.
In practice
Using this quote in a discussion about the limits of government intervention in personal beliefs.
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.
One can enjoy a rainbow without necessarily forgetting the forces that made it.
The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart
The classical man's worst fear was inglorious death; the modern man's worst fear is just death
It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.
Events are influenced by our very great desires.
Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.
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