B and I had a lovely 3 day anniversary retreat in Galena, Illinois. It was an opportunity for deep (uninterrupted!) discussion on a wide variety of topics. One of the things we discussed at length was our desire to foster in our children a willingness to do humble work, to do all things with excellence, to apply themselves in pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. This quote from John Adams sums up our thoughts succinctly:
"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives." --John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756
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