Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high road to public as well as private prosperity and happiness.
Interpretation
Jefferson emphasizes the importance of peace and economic responsibility over the destructive tendencies of rulers.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson reflects on the detrimental effects of war and excess governance, expressing his belief that a society focused on peace, prudent financial management, and the elimination of public debt leads not only to the prosperity of its citizens but also to their happiness. He highlights the contrast between the suffering caused by mismanagement by leaders and the beneficial outcomes of fostering a stable and responsible government.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech advocating for peaceful resolutions in international relations.
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
We 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.
So the single most vital step on your journey towards enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind.
I hope that people of all faiths will start looking for our too-invisible children who are crying out for help.
Be quiet now and wait. It may be that the ocean one, the one we desire so to move into and become, desires us out here on land a little longer, going our sundry roads to the shore.
Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.
The business of the law is to make sense of the confusion of what we call human life - to reduce it to order but at the same time to give it possibility, scope, even dignity.
We have no patience with other people's vanity because it is offensive to our own.
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