By making this wine known to the public, I have rendered my country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the national debt.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of cultural contributions as significant services to a nation.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson suggests that promoting and sharing the wine of his country is as valuable an act as helping the nation resolve its debts. It highlights how fostering a rich cultural identity can be as pivotal for a country's pride and economy as financial success.
In practice
During a speech about the importance of cultural exports.
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.
Multi-culture is the real culture of the world - the pure race doesnβt exist.
The priest has just baptized you a Christian with water; and I baptize you a Frenchman, daring child, with a dewdrop of champagne on your lips.
Culture relates to objects and is a phenomenon of the world; entertainment relates to people and is a phenomenon of life.
No one's of Pakistani origin in any British show. That's why every actor of color is here working in the States. It's true.
We Americans are childish about our celebrities and icons. We worship, then we denounce; we identify passionately with them and then, if they do something - anything - we dislike, we cast them off.
When I was growing up, the Spanish-speaking world was Balkanized. We were isolated. We didn't know what was happening in cultural terms in Ecuador, Colombia and Chile. Nowadays, this has changed a lot - fortunately for writers and readers. There is much more integration.
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