We exist, and are quoted, as standing proofs that a government, so modeled as to rest continually on the will of the whole society, is a practicable government.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of individuals as proof of a society governed by collective will.
Thomas Jefferson's quote emphasizes that the existence of individuals in a society serves as evidence that a government can effectively operate based on the collective will of its people. It suggests that democratic governance, which relies on the participation and consent of all members of society, is not only feasible but also essential for a functioning political structure.
In practice
During a political discussion on the importance of democracy.
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.
Motion is always a relative thing. I move in relation to something else. Any particle in this universe can change in relation to any other particle; but take the whole universe as one, and in relation to what can it move? There is nothing besides it. So this infinite Unit is unchangeable, immovable, absolute, and this is the Real Man.
Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship.
To practice Aikido fully you must calm the spirit and go back to the origin.
To make a deliberate falsification for personal gain is the last, worst depth to which either scholar or artist can descend in work or life.
Our own grandchildren may demonstrate that-sometimes- Gigantic is Beautiful.
When nonviolence is accepted as the law of life, it must pervade the whole being and not be applied to isolated acts.
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