The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
KNOWLEDGE / SCIENTIFIC / COURSE OF STUDY
I trust, that with your dispositions, even the acquisition of science
is a pleasing employment. I can assure you, that the possession of it
is, what (next to an honest heart) will above all things render you
dear to your friends, and give you fame and promotion in your own
country. When your mind shall be well improved with science, nothing
will be necessary to place you in the highest points of view, but to
pursue the interests of your country, the interests of your friends,
and your own interests also, with the purest integrity, the most
chaste honor. The defect of these virtues can never be made up by all
the other acquirements of body and mind. Make these, then, your first
object. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth
itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act. And never
suppose, that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances,
it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it
may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never
be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the
world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous
dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises; being
assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the
body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the
practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the
most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of
death. If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and
perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to
extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will
extricate you the best out of the worst situations. Though you cannot
see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth,
justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of
the labyrinth, in the easiest manner possible. The knot which you
thought a Gordian one, will untie itself before you. Nothing is so
mistaken as the supposition, that a person is to extricate himself
from a difficulty, by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by
trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the
difficulties tenfold; and those, who pursue these methods, get
themselves so involved at length, that they can turn no way but their
infamy becomes more exposed. It is of great importance to set a
resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no
vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself
to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third
time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without
attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This
falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time
depraves all its good dispositions.
An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the
second. It is time for you now to begin to be choice in your reading;
to begin to pursue a regular course in it; and not to suffer yourself
to be turned to the right or left by reading anything out of that
course. I have long ago digested a plan for you, suited to the
circumstances in which you will be placed. This I will detail to you,
from time to time, as you advance. For the present, I advise you to
begin a course of ancient history, reading everything in the original
and not in translations. First read Goldsmith's history of Greece.
This will give you a digested view of that field. Then take up ancient
history in the detail, reading the following books, in the following
order: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontis Anabasis, Arrian, Quintus
Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin. This shall form the first stage of
your historical reading, and is all I need mention to you now. The
next will be of Roman history. From that, we will come down to modern
history. In Greek and Latin poetry, you have read or will read at
school, Virgil, Terence, Horace, Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer,
Euripides, Sophocles. Read also Milton's Paradise Lost,"
Shakspeare, Ossian, Pope's and Swift's works, in order to form your
style in your own language. In morality, read Epictetus, Xenophontis
Memorabilia, Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero's philosophies,
Antoninus, and Seneca. In order to assure a certain progress in this
reading, consider what hours you have free from the school and the
exercises of the school. Give about two of them, every day, to
exercise; for health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong
body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise
the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives
boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with
the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and
stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the
constant companion of your walks. Never think of taking a book with
you. The object of walking is to relax the mind. You should therefore
not permit yourself even to think while you walk; but divert yourself
by the objects surrounding you. Walking is the best possible exercise.
Habituate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans value themselves on
having subdued the horse to the uses of man; but I doubt whether we
have not ~ost more than we have gained, by the use of this animal. No
one has occasioned so much the degeneracy of the human body. An
Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day, for a long journey, as an
enfeebled white does on his horse; and he will tire the best horses.
There is no habit you will value so much as that of walking far
without fatigue. I would advise you to take your exercise in the
afternoon: not because it is the best time for exercise, for certainly
it is not; but because it is the best time to spare from your studies;
and habit will soon reconcile it to health, and render it nearly as
useful as if you gave to that the more precious hours of the day. A
little walk of half an hour, in the morning, when you first rise, is
advisable also. It shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects
in the animal economy. Rise at a fixed and an early hour, and go to
bed at a fixed and early hour also. Sitting up late at night is
injurious to the health, and not useful to the mind. Having ascribed
proper hours to exercise, divide what remain (I mean of your vacant
hours) into three portions. Give the principal to History, the other
two, which should be shorter, to Philosophy and Poetry. Write to me
once every month or two, and let me know the progress you make. Tell
me in what manner you employ every hour in the day.
to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785
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