"The art of life is the art of avoiding pain."
Thomas Jefferson
I'm not sure what kind of pain Jefferson was writing about when he wrote this parting letter to his lover Maria Cosway but I'd venture to say it was more than physical pain. It appears that Jefferson was becoming more of an Epicurean by this time and less Stoical. The stoics would take issue with the idea of avoiding pain and suggest you learn how to master it I suspect. Jefferson seems to have gone soft in the head as it were over time, not really as much of an adventurer or rugged as some of the other political elites. Nonetheless, there is something to be said for avoiding pain, wouldn't you say.