John Hector St. John - Letters from an American Farmer (1782)

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There is room for every body in America; has he any particular talent or industry? He exerts it in order to procure a livelihood, and it succeeds.

John Hector St. John
He who governs himself according to what he calls his principles may be punished either by one party or the other for those very principles. He who proceeds without principle, as chance, timidity, or self-preservation directs, will not perhaps fare better; but he will be less blamed.

John Hector St. John
I never see an egg brought on my table but I feel penetrated with the wonderful change it would have undergone but for my gluttony; it might have been a gentle useful hen, leading her chickens with a care and vigilance which speaks shame to many women.

John Hector St. John
What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of an European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country.... Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.

John Hector St. John
There is something in the proximity of the woods which is very singular. It is with men as it is with plants and animals that grow and live in the forests; they are entirely different from those that live in the plains.

John Hector St. John
Men are like plants; the goodness and flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow.

John Hector St. John