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Thomas Jefferson
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
letter to John Adams, August 1, 1816

Documented source

Source
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, August 1, 1816
Context
Two old rivals turned friends, elderly, still trading letters
Wording
Exact

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Monticello · letter to John Adams, 1816

Every quote here is traced to a documented source. How we verify →

About this line

Two old rivals turned friends, elderly, trading letters about what still mattered — and Jefferson, well past retirement, choosing to face forward. Not nostalgia. Appetite.

Why we carry this line

I’m with him — the dreams beat the history. But I’ve still watched a lot of the history documentaries. This quote was used in one of them. I immediately put search into action to see if it was verifiable. It was. Added to Quoteiac catalog.