Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom (Quotation)
"[B]ut I see nothing in this renewal of the game of ‘Robin’s alive’ but a general demoralization of the nation, a filching from industry it’s honest earnings, wherewith to build up palaces, and raise gambling stock for swindlers and shavers, who are to close too their career of piracies by fraudulent bankruptcies. my dependance for a remedy however, is in the wisdom which grows with time and suffering. whether the succeeding generation is to be more virtuous than their predecessors I cannot say; but I am sure they will have more worldly wisdom, and enough, I hope, to know that honesty is the 1st chapter in the book of wisdom." - Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Macon, January 12, 1819[1]
References
- ^ PTJ:RS, 13:571-72. Polygraph copy at the Library of Congress. Transcription available at Founders Online.