Famous Quotes at Understand Famous Quotes dot com

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

It’s a reflection of human stupidity that wars have been fought and are still being fought over such a simple matter as to whether there is or isn’t a God.

If everybody was to think logically and act reasonably, then it is clear that it poses no danger to anybody if somebody believes there is one God and somebody else believes that there are many gods and somebody else believes that there is no God at all.

The trouble begins when some people appoint themselves as special messengers of God and proceed to enforce their brand of God on others, usually using one religion or the other as a front for their operations. We call such people ‘fundamentalists’ or ‘religious fanatics’ though I think ‘deranged idiots’ is a better description. LOL.

In reality such ‘deranged idiots’ have no faith in God or even in the religion they profess to propagate as they show no hesitation in killing even people belonging to their own religion. And since such people have existed before, exist today and will exist tomorrow in one form or another, it’s imperative on the World in general and secular democracies in particular to keep themselves well armed and well prepared to face such self-proclaimed special messengers of God.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

Having knowledge of our past is good if we want to learn from it. Apart from that, there is not much in the past. Brooding over past failures or disappointments will accomplish nothing. Nobody can change the past, ever! Also, many a times the history is quite unreliable in recording as to how and why the events occurred in the past.

However, we have the ability to mold the future to our dreams if we dream about the future and put in dedicated efforts to realize those dreams. So it’s definitely preferable to dream about the future than to sweat over the past history.

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~

This is even more true today than at the times of Thomas Jefferson. It appears that many rich people take delight in ripping off the working class poor. It may be because the poor are an easy target and rich feel secure in the knowledge that

1. Most of the working class poor people don’t know their legal rights.
2. Most poor people, even if they knew their rights, don’t have the economic wherewithal to seek a redress in the Courts.
3. Even if a poor person were to seek a redress in the Courts, the rich can lengthen the process to many years or even decades through legal maneuvering and appeals.

A classic example of the rich preying on the poor, at least in Canada, is happening right now. Many businesses, some of them fairly large businesses reporting millions of dollars in annual profits, whenever they need to hire new employees, do not advertise for the job openings they have in their organization. Instead they team up with an Employment Agency to do the hiring for them. Now there would be nothing wrong if a business or employer were to hire an Employment Agency to do the screening and hiring for them and pay the Agency for its services. But that is not what they do!

Instead, the Employment Agency holds itself out as the “Employer”, recruits employees and sends them to work for the “Real Employer” - the business which teamed up with the Employment Agency, at the Real Employer’s place of business as a “Temporary Employee”. What is wrong with this arrangement, you may ask? Let me explain.

Suppose the Real Employer’s normal rate for the job is $12 per hour (This is the usual rate of semi-skilled type of factory jobs in Canada right now). So if the Real Employer were to hire you directly for this job, you’ll be paid $12 per hour plus, after 3 months of employment, you become eligible for other benefits like health insurance etc, if any. Since you are the employee of the Employment Agency and legally not the employee of the Real Employer even though in reality you work for the Real Employer, the Agency will pay you anywhere between 20% to 30% less than the going rate of the Real Employer. That is, your rate of pay will be somewhere between $8.50 to $10 per hour. The difference between what the Agency charges the Real Employer (e.g. $12 per hour) and what it pays you (e.g. $8.50 an hour) is how the Agency makes its money.

By this legal acrobatics, the Real Employer has downloaded its recruiting costs on to the working poor who end up earning 20% to 30% less than the going rate and the Real Employer has made the working poor a de facto economic slave as legally not being an employee of the Real Employer you have virtually no legal rights against the Real Employer.

Even though the above arrangement may be legal, in my view, it’s highly immoral and unethical - a classic case of the rich preying on the poor.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

Some people wrongly assume that, in a democracy, the party that wins the majority and forms the government can change or repeal old laws and make any new laws that it wishes to carry out its agenda. That is not exactly true. I think that is precisely what Thomas Jefferson is alluding to in this quote. Of course, when a political party wins majority and forms a government in a democracy, it has the right to pass new laws and change older laws to carry out its political agenda so long as its actions are reasonable and do not oppress the minority.

In true democracies, this is a very important and sacred principle. It is protected by the presence of a Constitution and an independent Judiciary. The Constitution guarantees certain rights to individuals and if the government encroaches upon such rights, the individuals can challenge the government in the court and the Court may declare the law unconstitutional.

It is also possible that a government with huge majority may try to amend the Constitution. Again, such an amendment can be challenged in the Court and the Court may declare the amendment invalid or unlawful if, in the opinion of the Court, such an amendment will lead to oppression of the minority. Independent judiciary in all true democracies is, therefore, extremely important in insuring that no majority party can become autocratic.

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

This is one of my favorites. If we are going to dream then it definitely makes sense to dream for hope rather than despair.

I would say one should make it a habit to dream of hope and success. That will help you to keep a happy frame of mind and may even motivate you to set goals and make efforts to achieve those goals. One should always guard against thoughts of hopelessness and despair. Hopelessness and despair can never produce any good results. Hope is the staple of life; without hope there is nothing.