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Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.

 
NUMBER: 842
AUTHOR: Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
QUOTATION: The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have past at home in the bosom of my family…. public emploiment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one’s family and affairs.
ATTRIBUTION: THOMAS JEFFERSON, secretary of state, letter to Francis Willis, Jr., April 18, 1790.—The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, vol. 16, p. 353 (1961). Willis served in Congress 1791–1793.
SUBJECTS: Happiness