Misattributed, Jackson's personal book of maxims
Other writings, The Paradoxes of Legal Science (1928)
“Great things have been effected by a few men well conducted.”
Letter to Virginia Governor Patrick Henry (1779-02-03), from William Hayden English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778–1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark (Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill, 1896) vol. 1, pp. 262-263
Context: I know the case is desperate, but, sire, we must either quit the country or attack Mr. Hamilton. No time is to be lost. Was I sure of a re-enforcement I should not attempt it. Who knows what fortune will do for us? Great things have been effected by a few men well conducted. Perhaps we may be fortunate. We have this consolation that our case is just, and that our country will be grateful and not condemn our conduct, in case we fall through; if so, this country as well as Kentucky, I believe, is lost.
Supplement
Battle Pieces: And Aspects of the War (1860)
Philosophy of Freedom. Chapter 9, alternate translations
Source: Original: "Leben in der Liebe zum Handeln und Lebenlassen im Verständnisse des fremden Wollens ist die Grundmaxime der freien Menschen."
“Let us have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash.”
Address by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Fourth Herzliya Conference, December 18, 2003; cited in: Terje Rød-Larsen, Fabrice Aidan, Nur Laiq (2014), The Search for Peace in the Arab-Israeli Conflict. p. 373
2000s
Query XVII
1780s, Notes on the State of Virginia
Context: Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?
