"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
John Adams
US diplomat & politician (1735 - 1826)
In a letter to Abigail Adams.
Hmmm . . . I dunno. Is this the definition of decadence? I mean, seriously, are tapestry and porcelain the ultimate goal? Or am I being too literal here?
Popular Posts
-
A palindrome is word, phrase, or other text whose letters spell the same backward and forward. Some well-known examples are MADAM I’M ADAM, ...
-
I have been seeing these on trucks in the neighborhood. What is going on? What does this mean?
-
Fascinating story on NPR today, about a woman's memoir of being raised by a single gay father, Steve Abbott, who was a poet and part of ...
-
I lifted this from Reb Livingston's blog: I am 43% Asshole/Bitch. I may think I am an asshole or a bitch, but the truth is I am a good p...
-
That first night, I wasn't sure whether you asked me to dine with you, or to die with you. Still, I answered, yes .
-
Dean's food was so rich last night that he got a really bad case of the hiccups, and they wouldn't go away for almost two hours. Yi...
-
Went with SR to a wonderful reception last night, for Taha Muhammad Ali, at a home in Laurelhurst. About 40-50 people gathered, a light buff...
-
Fun "Mad Libs" poem from Ben Lerner, up at he PoFo website: Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on tumblr Share on...
-
“President Bush, now championing the right of Terri Schiavo’s parents to decide if her feeding tube should be reinserted, signed a Texas la...
2 comments:
this is one of those quotes that always comes back to me—often ironically.
maybe painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain are anachronistic.
could we update these to studies of film, fashion, reality tv, celebrity, and plastic surgery?
Always dangerous to take Adams out of context. Ambitions, literate and prone to hyperbole are difficult to reconcile with crisis leadership and self-doubt. I think the only definition here is a man justifying putting great strain on himself and his family to secure a better future world.
Or maybe I'm taking the query too literally...
Post a Comment