Yet the hour of emancipation is advancing ... this enterprise is for the young; for those who can follow it up, and bear it through to it's consummation. It shall have all my prayers, and these are the only weapons of an old man.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of youth in driving forward the cause of emancipation and change.
Thomas Jefferson reflects on the progressive movement towards emancipation, expressing his belief that it is a responsibility that falls to the young who have the vigor and perseverance necessary to see it through to completion. As an older man, he offers his prayers as his contribution to this noble endeavor, emphasizing the significance of hope and dedication in enacting social change.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a youth empowerment rally.
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.
It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realize that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality.
To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart.
No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution... revolution is but thought carried into action.
A populace never rebels from passion for attack, but from impatience of suffering.
I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared about. The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past. But we've got to move on.
It is 10 years since I used drugs or drank alcohol and my life has improved immeasurably. I have a job, a house, a cat, good friendships and generally a bright outlook.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.