I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.
Interpretation
Trial by jury is essential for maintaining constitutional integrity in government.
Thomas Jefferson's quote emphasizes the importance of a jury trial as a fundamental mechanism to hold the government accountable to its constitutional principles. He argues that this system serves as an 'anchor,' grounding the actions of the government in the foundational laws that protect citizens' rights and ensure justice.
In practice
During a legal seminar discussing the importance of civil liberties.
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 perfection of yoga is to become detached. And the perfection of detachment is to become completely attached, attached to God.
Virtue isn't not wronging others but not wishing to wrong others.
He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.
There is something truer and more real, than what we can see with the eyes, and touch with the finger.
I have been called arrogant myself in my time, and hope to earn the title again, but to claim that I am privy to the secrets of the universe and its creator - that's beyond my conceit.
It just is nothing foreign to consciousness at all that could present itself to consciousness through the mediation of phenomena different from the liking itself; to like is intrinsically to be conscious.
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