Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters

I promised you a sample from my Commonplace book ... when I was a student of the law, now half a century ago, after getting thro Coke Littleton, whose matter cannot be abridged, I was in the habit of abridging and commonplacing what I read meriting it, and of sometimes mixing my own reflections on the subject. I now inclose you the extract from these entries which I promised. they were written at a time of life when I was bold in the pursuit of knoledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason [. . .] to whatever results they led, & bearding every authority which stood in their way.