“With respect to modern languages, French, as I have before observed, is indispensible. Next to this the Spanish is most important to an American. Our connection with Spain is already important and will become daily more so. Besides this the antient part of American history is written chiefly in Spanish.”

— Thomas Jefferson

1780s, Letter to Thomas Mann Randolph (1787)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Thomas Jefferson 456

3rd President of the United States of America 1743–1826

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“…The resistance to English, the fear of English, has made us bad readers of English literature, because of our fear of contaminating the Spanish language, of losing it in the avalanche of North American influence…”

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