We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Interpretation
The quote asserts that all humans are inherently equal and possess fundamental rights that cannot be taken away.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the foundational belief in human equality and the inherent rights endowed to every individual by their Creator. It argues that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are essential rights that should be protected and are self-evident truths, forming a cornerstone of democratic societies and the pursuit of justice.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for human rights.
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
We 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.
How friendly all men would be one with another, if no regard were paid to honour and money! I believe it would be a remedy for everything.
A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.
Tell her this And more,— That the king of the seas Weeps too, old, helpless man. The bustling fates Heap his hands with corpses Until he stands like a child With surplus of toys.
Clergyman: A ticket speculator outside the gates of Heaven.
Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings.
You see, the deaf have an intimacy with silence. It’s there in their dreams.
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