Jackson began keeping his book of maxims in 1848. He polished and gave attention to them while on the faculty at VMI in the early 1850s.

The original book is held at Tulane University.

“The maxims–Jackson’s self-selected principles of personal conduct and self-improvement–are brief and to the point. They were recorded by the general in a small blue-marbled notebook over a five-year period, starting in 1848, and are largely drawn from the collective practical and philosophical teachings of others who influenced Jackson’s life, including Lord Chesterfield, John Bunyan, Joel Parker, O. S. Foster, George Winfred Hervey, and, most significantly to Jackson, the Bible.”

He was not the original author of most of the sayings. Instead, he compiled them and organized them according to to three major headings. The first was accumulating friends.

1. A man is known by the company he keeps.

2. Be cautious in your selection.

3. There is danger of catching the habits of your associates.

4. Seek those who are intelligent & virtuous & if possible those who are a little above you, especially in moral excellence.

5. It is not desirable to have a large number of intimate friends. You may have many acquaintances but few intimate friends. If you have one who is what he should be, you are comparatively happy.

That friendship may be atonce fond and lasting, there must not only be equal virtue in each party, but virtue of the same kind: not only the same end must be proposed but the same means must be approved.

List source in Robertson, Stonewall Jackson, [1997: 154ff.] .

Stonewall Jackson’s Book of Maxims
By James I. Robertson