I'm trying to find a quote I read a few years ago in a Thomas Jefferson biography. The quote is related to Jefferson's views on religion, and if I recall correctly is something along the lines of
My religious sect is apiarian, seeking only the sweetness from all things
Unfortunately, I can't remember the biography this quote would have been from. It could have been The Art of Power by Jon Meacham or American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis, but I searched digital copies of these books and couldn't find any keywords.
Has anyone read this quote or something similar from Jefferson? Specifically him describing apiarianism as a religious sect.
Edit: /u/smileyman posted the quote (and source!) below. Embarrassingly, my memory of the quote was pretty off.
The quote comes from a letter that Jefferson wrote in 1819. After talking about numerous sects he says:
"were I to be the founder of a new sect. I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee, advise them to extract the honey of every sect"
The entire letter (which is rather short) can be read here.
As /u/Nosterana points out apiarian means "relating to bees or beekeeping", so Jefferson was using this as a literary device to explain how he would take just the parts he liked from each of the various religions.
Isn't that just a literary device?