Dog Eared Page: Thomas Jefferson's Papers

Monday, February 15, 2016


No attachments soothe the mind so much as those contracted in early life; nor do I recollect any societies which have given me more pleasure, than those of which you have partaken with me. I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give. I shall be glad to hear from you often. Give me the small news as well as the great.
- Thomas Jefferson
 in a letter to Alexander Donald Paris,
dated February 7, 1788

2 comments

  1. I love reading old letters like this :)

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  2. Yes, exactly! I mean, I kinda question how sincere Jefferson really was about all this (it was very much in vogue, if one wanted to be in politics to very decidedly say you did not want to be and that you wished you were a man of leisure who did nothing, but...), but it is fun to read old letters! Especially since, quite early on most of the founding fathers became aware they were writing not just to their correspondents but to posterity.

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