Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
840
AUTHOR:
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
QUOTATION:
Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side.
ATTRIBUTION:
President THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to the Young Republicans of Pittsburg, December 2, 1808.—The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. H. A. Washington, vol. 8, p. 142 (1871).
