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.
The Experience of Sacred Space makes possible the founding of the world: where the sacred Manifests itself in space, the real unveils itself, the world comes into existence.
I was lingering out on the pavement. There was a missing person inside of myself and I needed to find him . . . I felt done for, an empty burned-out wreck . . . Wherever I am, I'm a '60s troubadour, a folk-rock relic, a wordsmith from bygone days, a fictitious head of state from a place nobody knows.
However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.
Religion is defined as social systems whose participants avow a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought.
Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.
No one may pride himself at being more than an individual, and no one despondently think that he is not an individual.
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