A government of laws, and not of men.
John AdamsWhat a poor, ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, crapulous mass is Tom Paine's common sense.
John AdamsI pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
John AdamsMy best wishes, in the joys, and festivities, and the solemn services of that day on which will be completed the fiftieth year from its birth, of the independence of the United States: a memorable epoch in the annals of the human race, destined in future history to form the brightest or the blackest page, according to the use or the abuse of those political institutions by which they shall, in time to come, be shaped by the human mind.
John AdamsI agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.
John AdamsYou and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
John AdamsThere 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.
John AdamsYesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."
John AdamsThere is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.
John AdamsThe Declaration of Independence I always considered as a Theatrical Show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that; i.e. all the Glory of it.
John AdamsWhile all other Sciences have advanced, that of Government is at a stand; little better understood; little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.
John AdamsYou and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
John AdamsAs long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families.
John AdamsA natural and almost unavoidable consequence of that foul contagion in the human character — Negro slavery.
John AdamsNip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.
John AdamsA government of laws, and not of men.
John AdamsMetaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, than the consent of governors and governed.
John AdamsChildren should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
John AdamsThe proposition, that the people are the best keepers of their own liberties, is not true; they are the worst conceivable; they are no keepers at all; they can neither judge, act, think, or will, as a political body.
John AdamsI do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either.
John AdamsI almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!
John AdamsThe divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.
John AdamsThe consequences arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in our own.
John AdamsFear is the foundation of most governments.
John AdamsYou will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
John AdamsA pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.
John Adams