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.
No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced [in the elementary schools] inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of religious neutrality in public education.
Thomas Jefferson's quote underscores the principle that public schools should not favor or impose any particular religion on students. It reflects the belief in maintaining a separation between church and state, ensuring that education is inclusive and respects the diverse beliefs of all students. This idea supports the notion that education should be a space where individuals can learn without religious bias or coercion, fostering a more tolerant and understanding society.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be referenced in a discussion about the role of religion in public schools during a school board meeting.
More from Thomas Jefferson
All quotes βI, 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.
Similar quotes
Sequencing - the careful striptease by which you reveal information to the reader - matters in an article, but it is absolutely essential to a book.
Humor is the oxygen of children's literature. There's a lot of competition for children's time, but even kids who hate to read want to read a funny book.
If you educate a boy, you educate a person, but if you educate a girl, you educate a family and benefit an entire community.β An entire community - now that is really interesting! Then I found the quote changed a little more on the Kingdom of Jordan website by her Royal Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan during her interview with Oprah Winfrey. Queen Rania relates the quote in these words: βAs you educate a woman, you educate the family. If you educate the girls, you educate the future.
I trust the readers to build their own visual images. To me, that's part of the wonder of reading.
My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions.
You know, you can make a small mistake in language or etiquette in Britain, or you could when I was younger, and really be made to feel it, and it's the flick of a lash, but it would sting, and especially at school where there's not much privacy, and so on. You could, yes, undoubtedly be made to feel crushed.