The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Interpretation
Jefferson advocates for a hands-off government approach, allowing citizens to pursue their own paths without interference.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson expresses a core principle of American democracy, emphasizing the importance of individual freedom and limited government intervention. He suggests that the role of government should not involve obstructing or excessively supporting its citizens, but rather providing an environment where individuals are free to pursue their own interests and aspirations, thereby fostering personal responsibility and autonomy.
In practice
A speaker at a political rally discussing the importance of personal freedom and minimal government interference.
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.
People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist.
I feel like I could be likened to an old hound circling on a rug for the last five years.
There are things of which I may not speak; There are dreams that cannot die; There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak, And bring a pallor into the cheek, And a mist before the eye.
Itβs never quite right, all the things we are taught, all the loves we chase, all the deaths we die, all the lives we live.
It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more.
Faith is in the soul. Belief is thought. Faith is so rich. Faith gives me my spiritual self.
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