We ought not to schismatize on either men or measures. Principles alone can justify that.
Interpretation
We should not divide ourselves based on individuals or methods, but rather base our actions on principles.
This quote from Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of adhering to fundamental principles rather than allowing personal biases or specific strategies to drive divisions among people. It suggests that unity should be maintained through shared values and beliefs, rather than through allegiance to particular individuals or their methods, which can lead to discord.
In practice
This quote is perfect for a speech on the importance of teamwork in organizations.
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.
Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not.
In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead.
It is said that those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. It may well be that a war neurosis stirred up by propaganda of fear and hatred is the prelude to destruction.
...for me there is too little of life to spend most of it forcing myself into detachment from it.
Without God man has no reference point to define himself. 20th century philosophy manifests the chaos of man seeking to understand himself as a creature with dignity while having no reference point for that dignity.
Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.