Tag Archives: First Principles

First Principles: Legal Immigrants Are Welcome To Join American Society and Conform To Our Established Rules

“Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules.” —Thomas Jefferson … Continue reading →

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First Principles: If There Must Be Trouble, Let It Be In My Day, That My Child May Have Peace

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” – Thomas Paine    

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First Principles: Cultivate Peace and Harmony With All Nations By Observing Good Faith and Justice

“Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.” – George Washington    

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First Principles: Civilization Teaches Us To Respect The Right For Women To Enjoy Their Natural Equality To Men

“It is civilization alone which replaces women in the enjoyment of their natural equality. That first teaches us to subdue the selfish passions, and to respect those rights in others which we value in ourselves.” – Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the … Continue reading →

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First Principles: The Richest Inheritance Is To Pass On Christianity To Our Family

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian Religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling … Continue reading →

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First Principles: It Is In the Love of One’s Family That Heartfelt Happiness Is Known

“It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” – Thomas Jefferson    

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First Principles: The Ambitious Who Embrace the Image of Virtue But Not Virtue Itself, Produce Ugly Deeds

“Ambitious men, who embrace the image and not the reality of virtue, produce nothing but ugly deeds.” – Plutarch, Lives of Noble Romans        

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First Principles: Constitutions For Free Persons Should Aim At Common Advantage of the Community

“Constitutions which aim at the common advantage are correct and just without qualification, whereas those which aim only at the advantage of the rulers are deviant and unjust, because they involve despotic rule, which is inappropriate for a community of … Continue reading →

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First Principles: Sound Economics Is Based On the Advantages of Self-Interest Not Appeals To Humanity

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never … Continue reading →

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First Principles: Civil Liberty Understood Consists In Protecting Individual Rights Through Society’s Constraints and Force

“Civil liberty, rightly understood, consists in protecting the rights of individuals by the united force of society: society cannot be maintained, and of course can exert no protection, without obedience to some sovereign power; and obedience is an empty name, … Continue reading →

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