"Oh, that I am always be able to say to my grandsons, ' You have learned much and behave well, my lads. Go on and improve in everything worthy.' Have you considered the meaning of the word "worthy"? Weigh it well... I had rather you should be worthy possessors of one thousand pounds honestly aquired by your own labor and industry, than of ten millions by banks and tricks. I should rather you be worthy shoemakers than secretaries of states or treasury aquired by libels in newspapers. I had rather you should be worthy makers of brooms and baskets than unworthy presidents of the United States procured by intrigue, factious slander and corruption."
John Adams, 1812, an excerpt from a letter to his grandson John Smith quoted in "John Adams" by David McCullough, pages 608-609.
I hope to be able to say similar things to my sons and grandsons someday and I hope that they have similar feelings of what is "worthy".
