Of the various Executive duties, no one excites more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow citizens in the hands of honest men, with understandings sufficient for their station. no duty at the same time, is more difficult to fulfill.

if a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? those by death are few. by resignation none.

I thank you for the kindness towards myself which breathes through your letter. the first of all our consolations is that of having faithfully fulfilled our duties: the next, the approbation & good will of those who have witnessed it

our duty to ourselves to posterity & to mankind call on us by every motive which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of our beloved country, during the troubles which agitate & convulse the residue of the world, & to sacrifice to that all personal & local...

the laws of the land are the inheritance & the right of every man, before whatever tribunal he is brought.

“Here,” said he, casting his eyes on the level plain before us, “Here you can form no adequate idea of the beauty or sublimity of a winter’s storm; but standing, as I have often stood at Monticello, to watch its progress—rising over the distant Alleghany, come sweeping and roaring on, mountain...

the total change of occupation from the house & writing table to constant emploiment in the garden & farm has added wonderfully to my happiness. it is seldom & with great reluctance I ever take up a pen. I read some, but not much.

I am constantly in my garden or farm, as exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors when at Washington, and I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.

I have recieved safely the extraordinary rattle of the rattle snake, as also the leav foliage of the Alleghaney Martagon. a plant of so much beauty & fragrance will be a valuable addition to our flower gardens.

When we descended to the Hall, he asked us to pass into the library, or as I called it his sanctum sanctorrum, where any other foot than his own seldom intrudes.