John Adams Quote

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“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.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Discourses on Davila: A Series of Papers on Political History, No. 4 Gazette of the United States (1790–1791). - Discourses on Davila (1790)

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“A government of laws, and not of men.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: No. 7; this was incorporated into the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. - Novanglus essays (1774 - 1775)

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

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Letter to J.H. Tiffany (31 March 1819).

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“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.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (23 August 1787)

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“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.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Letters of John Adams, addressed to his wife (1841 edition)

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“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.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Letters to John Taylor (1814)

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“Genius is sorrow's child.”

- John Adams

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“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Letter to Abigail Adams, May, 1794

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“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.”

- John Adams

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“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.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: The selected writings of John and John Quincy Adams (1946 edition)

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

- John Adams

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“In politics the middle way is none at all.”

- John Adams

Source/Notes: Letter to Horatio Gates (23 March 1776)

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“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”

- John Adams

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

- John Adams

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John Adams Quote

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