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.
What is better adapted than the festive use of wine in the first place to test and in the second place to train the character of a man, if care be taken in the use of it? What is there cheaper or more innocent?
Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear. Just as vulgarity is simply the conduct of other people. And falsehoods the truths of other people. Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself. To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
There is perhaps no better a demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.
We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.
She watched the sun bleed water out of the icicle. Warm and cold working together to make an icicle. Warm and cold anger working together to make a fury, a fury worthy enough to use as a weapon against the old things that still needed fighting.
When I look back on what I did for the Left, I'm in a small way quite proud of some of it - I only wish I'd done more.
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