For in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him.
 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1785). copy citation

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Author Thomas Jefferson
Source Notes on the State of Virginia
Topic labour
Date 1785
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/jefferson/jefferson.html

Context

“in which he must lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute as far as depends on his individual endeavours to the evanishment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition on the endless generations proceeding from him. With the morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed. For in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are even seen to labour. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?” source