John Adams Quote

Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination - everything which can charm a...
JOHN ADAMS

It was the general opinion of ancient nations, that the divinity alone was adequate to the important...
JOHN ADAMS

I am persuaded there is among the mass of our people a fund of wisdom, integrity, and humanity which...
JOHN ADAMS

Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens the understanding, and softens the hear...
JOHN ADAMS

The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people's hands, that is, to give them the power at a...
JOHN ADAMS

Where annual elections end, there slavery begins
JOHN ADAMS

The Pythagorean, as well as the Platonic philosophers, probably concurred in the fabrication of the ...
JOHN ADAMS

The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God. It contains the history of the creation of the...
JOHN ADAMS

While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better unders...
JOHN ADAMS

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
JOHN ADAMS

Liberty can not be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.
JOHN ADAMS

Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens understanding and softens the heart. -...
JOHN ADAMS

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
JOHN ADAMS

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democrac...
JOHN ADAMS

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each ar...
JOHN ADAMS

I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which t...
JOHN ADAMS

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
JOHN ADAMS

The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of ...
JOHN ADAMS

The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own l...
JOHN ADAMS

Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination -- everything which can charm ...
JOHN ADAMS

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.
JOHN ADAMS

In politics the middle way is none at all.
JOHN ADAMS

Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity.
JOHN ADAMS

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and divi...
JOHN ADAMS

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My ...
JOHN ADAMS

The arts and sciences, in general, during the three or four last centuries, have had a regular cours...
JOHN ADAMS

There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.
JOHN ADAMS

A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one o...
JOHN ADAMS

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was ...
JOHN ADAMS

Fear is the foundation of most government.
JOHN ADAMS

Genius is sorrow's child.
JOHN ADAMS

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps...
JOHN ADAMS

When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such ...
JOHN ADAMS

Thomas Jefferson -- still surv
JOHN ADAMS

As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long...
JOHN ADAMS

The Science of Government it is my Duty to study, more than all other Sciences: the Art of Legislati...
JOHN ADAMS

But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow. It is like a large Fleet sailing u...
JOHN ADAMS

I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaratio...
JOHN ADAMS

The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too m...
JOHN ADAMS

I request that they may be considered in confidence, until the members of Congress are fully possess...
JOHN ADAMS

You say that at the time of the Congress, in 1765, The great mass of the people were zealous in the ...
JOHN ADAMS

As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by ...
JOHN ADAMS

I read my eyes out and cant read half enough. The more one reads the more one sees we have to read.
JOHN ADAMS

I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on All that shall hereafter Inhabit ...
JOHN ADAMS

All the perplexities, confusions, and distresses in America arise, not from defects in their constit...
JOHN ADAMS

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt ...
JOHN ADAMS

There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth: those with the commitment, and those...
JOHN ADAMS

Courage and perseverance have a magic talisman, before which difficulties and obstacles vanish into ...
JOHN ADAMS

While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolati...
JOHN ADAMS

Thomas Jefferson still survives.
JOHN ADAMS

Fear is the foundation of most governments.
JOHN ADAMS

The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.
JOHN ADAMS

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.
JOHN ADAMS

As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long...
JOHN ADAMS

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.
JOHN ADAMS

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
JOHN ADAMS

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our ...
JOHN ADAMS

Genius is sorrow's child.
JOHN ADAMS

I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman.
JOHN ADAMS

I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand sce...
JOHN ADAMS

Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
JOHN ADAMS

The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with al...
JOHN ADAMS

A government of laws, and not of men.
JOHN ADAMS

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, s...
JOHN ADAMS

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was ...
JOHN ADAMS

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.
JOHN ADAMS

The happiness of society is the end of government.
JOHN ADAMS

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the impo...
JOHN ADAMS

Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implie...
JOHN ADAMS

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the gove...
JOHN ADAMS

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I h...
JOHN ADAMS

It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and cr...
JOHN ADAMS

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed...
JOHN ADAMS

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy ...
JOHN ADAMS

All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitutio...
JOHN ADAMS

Consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust, as offensive in the sight of God as it is d...
JOHN ADAMS

...Turn our thoughts, in the next place, to the characters of learned men. The priesthood have, in a...
JOHN ADAMS

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a ro...
JOHN ADAMS

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, sp...
JOHN ADAMS

The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.
JOHN ADAMS

That the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the mi...
JOHN ADAMS

...a revolution of government is the strongest proof that can be given by a people of their virtue a...
JOHN ADAMS

Jefferson still survivies.
JOHN ADAMS

Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy...
JOHN ADAMS

All the perplexities, confusions, and distress in America arise, not from defects in their constitut...
JOHN ADAMS

Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.
JOHN ADAMS

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living...
JOHN ADAMS

You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
JOHN ADAMS

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our ...
JOHN ADAMS

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morali...
JOHN ADAMS

The proposition that the people are the best keepers of their own liberties is not true. They are th...
JOHN ADAMS

No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.
JOHN ADAMS

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and...
JOHN ADAMS

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My ...
JOHN ADAMS

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
JOHN ADAMS

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once los...
JOHN ADAMS

The preservation of the means of knowledge among the lowest ranks is of more importance to the publi...
JOHN ADAMS

The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion
JOHN ADAMS

That's what they admire most about the horse, his durability.
JOHN ADAMS

And before I knew it one came up and then immediately punches started coming from all directions and...
JOHN ADAMS

But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, ...
JOHN ADAMS

My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contriv...
JOHN ADAMS

Now, my friend, can prophecies or miracles convince you or me that infinite benevolence, wisdom, and...
JOHN ADAMS

Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.
JOHN ADAMS

Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right...
JOHN ADAMS

It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their co...
JOHN ADAMS

Politics are the divine science, after all
JOHN ADAMS

It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power
JOHN ADAMS

Mobs will never do to govern states or command armies
JOHN ADAMS

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.
JOHN ADAMS

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps...
JOHN ADAMS

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and ...
JOHN ADAMS

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and tha...
JOHN ADAMS

Always stand on principle even if you stand alone.
JOHN ADAMS

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importan...
JOHN ADAMS

I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy...
JOHN ADAMS

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our ...
JOHN ADAMS

The universal object and idol of men of letters is reputation
JOHN ADAMS

The deliberate union of so great and various a people in such a place, is without all partiality or ...
JOHN ADAMS

Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the lower class of the people, are so ext...
JOHN ADAMS

There are two types of education. One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to liv...
JOHN ADAMS

It is wrong to admit into the Constitution the idea that there can be property in man
JOHN ADAMS

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My ...
JOHN ADAMS

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the...
JOHN ADAMS

Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot conf...
JOHN ADAMS

I, poor creature, worn out with scribbling for my bread and my liberty, low in spirits and weak in h...
JOHN ADAMS

Happiness, whether in despotism or democracy, whether in slavery or liberty, can never be found with...
JOHN ADAMS

The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, th...
JOHN ADAMS

The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and e...
JOHN ADAMS

My critics feel there was a lack of fairness in the opera, because the Palestinians are treated with...
JOHN ADAMS

I am bold to Say that neither you nor I, will live to See the Course which 'the Wonders of the Times...
JOHN ADAMS

I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened...
JOHN ADAMS

Books that cannot bear examination, certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by p...
JOHN ADAMS

We've seen bobcats. We've seen what I call a mountain lion, down in town. And, last year, we caught ...
JOHN ADAMS

There is no such thing as human wisdom; all is the providence of God
JOHN ADAMS

A pleasant morning. Saw my classmates Gardner, and Wheeler. Wheeler dined, spent the afternoon, and ...
JOHN ADAMS

Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being nece...
JOHN ADAMS

This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it
JOHN ADAMS

But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma ... and you will soon find you have disturbed a n...
JOHN ADAMS

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was ...
JOHN ADAMS

And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people who have a right from t...
JOHN ADAMS

...The Presidential election has given me less anxiety than I myself could have imagined. The next a...
JOHN ADAMS

We are going to check whether signing up people automatically will help stem the denial and apathy a...
JOHN ADAMS

I made the four minutes of the prelude entirely with the sound of hand-tools. At one point it sounds...
JOHN ADAMS

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery of party, faction, and divis...
JOHN ADAMS

These bickerings of opposite parties, and their mutual reproaches their declamations, their sing-son...
JOHN ADAMS

I've seen a lot of convention centers. But this building is truly special: The feel. The light. The ...
JOHN ADAMS

Education makes a greater difference between man and man than nature has made between man and brute.
JOHN ADAMS

The most important gap is that a whole host of disorders, called blood disorders, have been forgotte...
JOHN ADAMS

I never engaged in public affairs for my own interest, pleasure, envy, jealousy, avarice or ambition...
JOHN ADAMS

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind, whom should we serve?
JOHN ADAMS

I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, t...
JOHN ADAMS

You're connecting with the person, and it's really happening. It is only through the horror of those...
JOHN ADAMS

Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I h...
JOHN ADAMS

Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
JOHN ADAMS

Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I h...
JOHN ADAMS

Nineteen twentieths of [mankind is] opaque and unenlightened. Intimacy with most people will make yo...
JOHN ADAMS

In that telling, there were things that were exposed about Dr. King. It cut through me in a way I (h...
JOHN ADAMS

We think ourselves possessed, or, at least, we boast that we are so, of liberty of conscience on all...
JOHN ADAMS

Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?

{Letter to

The people have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge - I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers

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John Adams

The people have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge - I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers

John Adams

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