The two greatest things that all men aim at in any free government are liberty and permanency. We have had liberty enough - too much perhaps in some respects - but at all events, liberty to our hearts content.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of liberty and stability in a free society.
In this quote, Thomas D highlights that individuals in a free government strive for two main objectives: liberty and stability. He suggests that while we may have enjoyed ample freedom, perhaps to an excessive degree, the essence of a successful government lies in balancing that freedom with a sense of permanence and security for its citizens.
In practice
In a speech about civil liberties, one might quote this to emphasize the need for balance in governance.
There is no intrinsic worth in money but what is alterable with the times, and whether a guinea goes for twenty pounds or for a shilling, it is the labor of the poor and not the high and low value that is set on gold or silver, which all the comforts of life must arise from.
Only an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular liberty.
For an occurrence to become an adventure, it is necessary and sufficient for one to recount it.
Of course there are people who think of 'heaven' as a kind of pie-in-the-sky dream of an afterlife to make the thought of dying less awful. No doubt that's a problem as old as the human race.
There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.
Dangerous acts can be done safely in a community which thinks and feels rightly, which would be the way to hell if they were executed by those who think and feel wrongly.
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