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About this quote

What does it mean?
Emerson advocates for limited government, suggesting fewer laws and less concentrated power lead to better outcomes for society.
In plain terms
Having less government control and fewer laws is generally better.
What can you take from it?
Support minimal government intervention to preserve freedom.

Where it applies

  • debating policy
  • voting
  • civil liberties

Putting it to work

  • vote for limited government
  • advocate for deregulation

Questions to consider

  • When is government intervention useful?
  • How much control is too much?

Another view

Some regulations are necessary to protect public safety.

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

  1. The only gift is a portion of thyself.

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  2. For it is not metres, but a metre-making argument, that makes a poem, - a thought so passionate and alive, that, like the spirit of a plant or an animal, it ha…

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  3. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and sp…

    Permalink to quote #137

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