John Adams

A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.

All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

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

Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination - everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.

I believe awesome things will happen. because its Monday.

To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.

Popularity, next to virtue and wisdom, ought to be aimed at; for it is the dictate of wisdom, and is necessary to the practice of virtue inmost.

My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery of party faction and division of society.

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children.

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

The appearance of religion only on Sunday proves that it is only an appearance.

The balance of power in a society accompanies the balance of property in land.

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

You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.

I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.

We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions...shall enjoy equal liberty property and an equal chance for honors and power...we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society.

Government has no right to hurt a hair of the head of an atheist for his opinions. Let him have a care of his practices.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

In politics the middle way is none at all.

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.

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

The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.

But a Constitution of Government once changed from freedom can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever.

The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.

When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.

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

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.

I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.

This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it.

Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense.

As the happiness of the people is the sole end of government so the consent of the people is the only foundation of it.

Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of mans nature and the noble rank he holds among the works of God...Let it be known that British liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments.

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.

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

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

A desire to be observed considered esteemed praised beloved and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.

I believe awesome things will happen. because it's Monday.

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

Genius is sorrow's child.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.

A government of laws, and not of men.

Did you ever see a portrait of a great man without perceiving strong traits of pain and anxiety?

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

We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption.

A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.

While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.

Government is nothing more than the combined force of society or the united power of the multitude for the peace order safety good and happiness of the people.

While all other sciences have advanced that of government is at a standstill little better understood little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.

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

Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

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