Taste cannot be controlled by law.
Interpretation
Taste is a personal and subjective matter that cannot be dictated by rules or laws.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the idea that individual preferences and aesthetic judgments, particularly in matters of taste, are inherently subjective and cannot be governed by external authorities or legislation. Jefferson advocates for personal freedom in choosing what one appreciates or enjoys, highlighting the importance of individual expression and the limits of societal control over personal preferences.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion about art and personal preferences.
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.
Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there.
The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
Philosophy is a kind of journey, ever learning yet never arriving at the ideal perfection of truth.
She says, "But in contentment I still feel The need for imperishable bliss." Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her, Alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams And our desires. Is there no change of death in paradise? Does ripe fruit never fall? or do the boughs Hang always heavy in that perfect sky, Unchanging, yet so like our perishing earth, With rivers like our own that seek for seas They never find, the same receding shores That never touch with inarticulate pang?
Remember what is unbecoming to do is also unbecoming to speak of.
A very great part of the mischiefs that vex the world arises from words.
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