A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life

Thomas Jefferson

1 Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

2 Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

3 Never spend your money before you have it.

4 Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

5 Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst or cold.

6 We never repent of having eaten too little.

8 How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!

9 Take things always by their smooth handle.

10 When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.