God was not in the details for Jefferson; he was in the…

““God was not in the details for Jefferson; he was in the sky and stars.””

Joseph J. Ellis

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Jefferson focused on grand, universal ideas rather than minutiae, emphasizing a broader vision.

In simple terms: Jefferson valued big ideas over details.

Key Takeaway

Adopt a big‑picture perspective.

Themes

vision philosophy leadership

Mood

thoughtful strategic

Type

historical philosophical

When to use this quote

strategic planning
policy making
visionary leadership

Key Concepts

history political theory

Questions to Reflect On

When is detail work essential?
How balance vision and precision?

A Different Perspective

Neglecting details can cause errors.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

American revolution Stars

More by Joseph J. Ellis

“Perhaps, in that eerily instinctive way in which he always grasped the difference between the essential and the peripheral, he literally felt in his…

Joseph J. Ellis

“Upon learning that Washington intended to reject the mantle of emperor, no less an authority than George III allegedly observed, “If he does that,…

Joseph J. Ellis

“The Adams presidency, in fact, might be the classic example of the historical truism that inherited circumstances define the parameters within which presidential leadership…

Joseph J. Ellis

“p. 274 ...his trademark decision to surrender power as commander in chief and then president, was not...a sign that he had conquered his ambitions,…

Joseph J. Ellis

To my three sons, Peter, Scott, and Alexander who pulled me from the 18th Century and back into the present on a regular basis…

Joseph J. Ellis

Lincoln once said that America was founded on a proposition that was written by Jefferson in 1776. We are really founded on an argument…

Joseph J. Ellis

“They recognized from the beginning that they were a rare match. There were so many topics they could talk about easily and just as…

Joseph J. Ellis

[quoting someone else] the American constitution is a document designed by geniuses to be eventually interpreted by idiots

Joseph J. Ellis

I believe I am an honorable man.

Joseph J. Ellis

“The first symptom of the trouble appeared when Madison studied Hamilton’s proposal for the funding of the domestic debt. On the one hand, Hamilton’s…

Joseph J. Ellis

“But if insecurity was the primal source of Hamilton's incredibly energy, one would have to conclude that providence had conspired to produce at the…

Joseph J. Ellis

“One of the petitioners, an infamous do-gooder of uncertain sanity named Warner Mifflin, had actually acknowledged that his antislavery vision came to him after…

Joseph J. Ellis

I would say readers can trust my work more than anyone else's.

Joseph J. Ellis

And the only thing to do with a sin is to confess, do penance and then, after some kind of decent interval, ask for…

Joseph J. Ellis

“Burr had the dark and severe coloring of his Edwards ancestry, with black hair receding from the forehead and dark brown, almost black, eyes…

Joseph J. Ellis

Explore all 49 Joseph J. Ellis quotes

More American revolution quotes

I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class.

H. W. Brands

“Patriotism is a fierce love for the nation’s soul - its land, its people, its core, coupled with a burning contempt for a government…

Njau Kihia

Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!

William H. Prescott

The shot heard round the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,…

Thomas Jefferson

“Socially, politically, economically, militarily, culturally, racially, sexually, demographically, even mythologically, World War II was the crucible that forged modern America. It was the transforming…

Haynes Johnson

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The…

John Adams

Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our…

Samuel Adams

“The British government in 1807 had issued the “Orders in Council,” which enforced a naval blockade against France, and with a shortage of seamen…

Charles River Editors

“There were counter-protests, of course, and in the end Mapplethorpe’s work was exhibited, but the message to the arts community was clear: stray too…

David Bayles

During the whole time I sat with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three sentences together.

John Adams

“Wyoming got an Algonquian name from Pennsylvania meaning “large prairie,” but the adoption came only after a long fight. Decades before the settling of…

Jack Weatherford