John Adams, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later became the second president of the United States, conducted a lively correspondence with Thomas Jefferson in his final years.
When Jefferson said he was willing to live his life over again, Adams replied: "I have had a father and lost him. I have had a mother and lost her. I have had a wife and lost her. I have had children and lost them. I have had honourable and worthy friends and lost them - and instead of suffering these griefs again, I had rather go forward and meet my destiny."
In 1826, in reply to a visitor's question about his health, the 90-year-old man said, "I have lived in this old and frail tenement a great many years; it is very much dilapidated; and, from all that I can learn, my landlord doesn't intend to repair it."