The domestic bonds here are absolutely done away. And where can their compensation be found? Perhaps they [the French] may catch some moments of transport above the level of the ordinary tranquil joy we experience, but [these] are separated by long intervals during which all the passions are at sea without rudder or compass.


Thomas Jefferson, In a letter to Eliza Trist, 18 Aug. 1785 as found in Understanding Thomas Jefferson by E.M. Halliday, 2001. p.5