Quotation by Thomas Jefferson

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American Declaration of Independence (1776) published in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, ed. Julian P. Boyd (1950)American Declaration of Independence (1776), published in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, ed. Julian P. Boyd (1950)Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul L. Ford (1899)First Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 8, 1801 First Inaugural Address The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Andrew A. Lipscomb (1904)

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money (4) idleness (3) fear (3) time (3) games (2) risk (2) depression (2) war (2) love (2) prisons (2)

In a world which furnishes so many employments which are useful, and so many which are amusing, it is our own fault if we ever know what ennui [boredom] is, or if we are ever driven to the miserable resource of gaming, which corrupts our dispositions, and teaches us a habit of hostility against all mankind.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), U.S. president. Letter, May 21, 1787, to his daughter, Martha Jefferson. The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, p. 41, eds. E.M. Betts and J.A. Bear, Jr. (1966).

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