No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

I consider the government of the U.S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises.

I have overlived the generation with which mutual labors & perils begat mutual confidence and influence.

Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error.

I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one through the year.

I do not pretend that language is science. It isan instrument for the attainment of science.

From breakfast, or noon at the latest, to dinner, I am mostly on horseback, Attending to My Farm or other concerns, which I find healthful to my body, mind, and affairs.