Adams Papers

21 Wednesday.
[from the Diary of John Adams]

21 Wednesday.

Kept School.—I am now entering on another Year,1 and I am resolved not to neglect my Time as I did last Year. I am resolved to rise with the Sun and to study the Scriptures, on Thurdsday, Fryday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, and to study some Latin author the other 3 mornings. Noons and Nights I intend to read English Authors. This is my fixt Determination, and I will set down every neglect and every compliance with this Resolution. May I blush whenever I suffer one hour to pass unimproved. I will rouse up my mind, and fix my Attention. I will stand collected within my self and think upon what I read and what I see. I will strive with all my soul to be something more than Persons who have had less Advantages than myself.

1Since his graduation from Harvard, or since his arrival in Worcester? It was not exactly a year since either of these events; see note on entry of 14 Jan. 1756, above.

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