Ian Goddard wrote:
>
> Here's a good Extropian quote:
>
> "I like the dreams of the future
> better than the history of the past."
>
> Thomas Jefferson
>
> Source: http://www.quoteplace.com
> Unfortunately they don't source the Jefferson
> quote to its location in the body of his writings.
> It's odd how few quotes per person quoteplace.com
> has, but perhaps it is still project in the works.
>
Altavista finds 80 hits for
+"Thomas Jefferson" +"dreams of the future"
Look at the bottom of:
http://www.mcs.net/~steve20/htm/dream.htm
it claims the quote is from a "letter to John Adams, 1 August 1816."
However, I haven't checked out the validity of this.
This one looks a lot more official:
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1750.htm
"What a colossus shall we be when the southern continent comes up to our mark! What a stand will it secure as a ralliance for the reason and freedom of the globe! I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1816. ME 15:59
ME 15:59 stands for volume 15, page 59 of The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Memorial Edition (Lipscomb and Bergh, editors)
20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04.