Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.”
- Date
- 1825
Meaning of “When angry, count ten, before you speak; if…”
Jefferson’s practical rule inserts a deliberate delay between anger and speech, giving judgment time to return before emotion becomes an irreversible response.
Where does it come from?
Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825, Founders Online / National Archives. The sentence is item 10 in a short list of “canons of conduct” sent to his namesake relative; the archive currently labels the transcription an Early Access document rather than a final authoritative edition.
