The Thomas Jefferson Workout: It Involves Guns
A quote from America’s 3rd President:
A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprize, and independance to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.
I’m assuming he was referring to soccer in the penultimate line.
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July 30th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Confirmed by Snopes http://www.snopes.com/quotes/jefferson/exercise.asp
July 30th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
That was simply beautiful. Thank you, Harvey!
July 30th, 2012 at 9:12 pm
i have taken his advice for many years now. as a result i am quite the character.
July 30th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
What about punching hippies? Punching hippies is a great form of exercise for the body and simultaneously “gives boldness, enterprize, and independence to the mind.”
July 30th, 2012 at 10:23 pm
It’s a good thing Jefferson is dead – if he were to see how far his Democrat party has fallen it would kill him.
July 31st, 2012 at 7:06 am
Penultimate!? I had to go to the dictionary for that one. Admitedly it did further my education so I guess it wasn’t a total act of floccinaucinihilipilification.
July 31st, 2012 at 8:02 am
zzyzx – quiet, peasant, lest I defenestrate you!
July 31st, 2012 at 9:36 am
SoB, I am sure if Jefferson knew of hippies, he would not have recommended punching them. Rather, he would have recommended them as an exercise accessory. Hippies didn’t come along until the real problems of this country were pretty much solved. Problems like British Soldiers, having enough to eat, having adequate shelter, etc.
Can you imagine the following events at the Olympics: the 300 meter hippy dash, immediately followed by hippy sniping at 300 meters?
July 31st, 2012 at 12:16 pm
The gun was incidental to the exercise Jefferson recommended most: Walking. As one walked, for up to two hours a day, one should not take a book but a gun, which provided the added benefits listed in your excerpt. All of this can be found in full letters to his nephew Peter Carr.
Learn more about Thomas Jefferson in his blog!
Several times each week, he posts briefly on a variety of topics, including exercise. Recent posts were:
– “Are rules made to be broken?”
– “Have you walked 10,000 steps today?,” and
– “Is there a doctor in the house?”
July 2′s post was “WWJD?”
July 4 featured an interesting tidbit from Jefferson’s personal notes on July 4, 1776.
Read his blog at http://ThomasJeffersonLeadership.com/blog/