A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life

As the sun set on his impactful life, Thomas Jefferson wrote down ten precepts.

1. Never put off til 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, and cold.
6. We never repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
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, a hundred.

—Thomas Jefferson, writing late in his life; quoted in Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham

A particular favorite of mine is the observation “How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.”

The observations and reflections of those near the end of their life seem to me among the truest sources of wisdom and guidance towards a life well lived.