John Adams Quotes
30 October 1735 – July 4, 1826
More John Adams Quotes
A government of laws, and not of men.
John Adams— 1774 In the Boston Gazette, no.7. The phrase was later incorporated into the Massachusetts Constitution (1780).
I 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 Adams— On the White House, in a letter to Abigail Adams (2 November 1800)
— Franklin D. Roosevelt had this inscribed on the mantlepiece of the State Dining Room.
My 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 Adams— Reply to an invitation to 50th Independence Day celebrations from a committee of the citizens of Quincy, Massachusetts (7 June 1826); quoted in "Eulogy, Pronounced at Bridgewater, Massachusetts" (1826-08-02) by John A. Shaw, in A Selection of Eulogies, Pronounced in the Several States, in Honor of Those Illustrious Patriots and Statesmen, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (1826)
I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.
John Adams— Letter to Horatio Gates, 23 March 1776
You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
John Adams— 1813 Letter to Thomas Jefferson,15 Jul.
What a poor, ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, crapulous mass is Tom Paine's common sense.
John Adams— 1819 Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 22 Jun, referring to the Republican's treatise on independence entitled Common Sense.
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.
John Adams— Notes for an oration at Braintree (Spring 1772)
There is something very unnatural and odious in a government a thousand leagues off. A whole government of our own choice, managed by persons whom we love, revere, and can confide in, has charms in it for which men will fight.
John Adams— Letter to Abigail Adams (17 May 1776)
Yesterday 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 Adams— On the decision to proclaim independence from British rule, which was made on 2 July 1776, in a letter to Abigail Adams (3 July 1776), published in The Adams Papers : Adams Family Correspondence (2007) edited by Margaret A. Hogan
There 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 Adams— Letter to Jonathan Jackson (2 October 1780), "The Works of John Adams", vol 9, p.511
The 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 Adams— Letter to Benjamin Rush (21 June 1811); published in Old Family Letters: Copied from the Originals for Alexander Biddle (1892), p. 287; also quoted in TIME magazine (25 October 1943)
While 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 Adams— Letter to Thomas Jefferson (9 July 1813)
You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
John Adams— Letter to Thomas Jefferson (15 July 1813)
As 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 Adams— Letter to Thomas Jefferson (16 July 1814)
A natural and almost unavoidable consequence of that foul contagion in the human character — Negro slavery.
John Adams— Stating his belief in the reports of James T. Callender that Thomas Jefferson was the father of the children of Sally Hemmings, as quoted in Scandalmonger? (2001) by William Safire, p. 431
Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.
John Adams— No. 3 (Novanglus essays (1774–1775))
A government of laws, and not of men.
John Adams— No. 7; this was incorporated into the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780
Metaphysicians 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 Adams— No. 7 (Novanglus essays (1774–1775))
Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
John Adams— Ch. 3 Marchamont Nedham : Errors of Government and Rules of Policy" Seventh Rule
The 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 Adams— This is attributed to Adams in The Life of Thomas Jefferson (1858) by Henry Stephens Randall, p. 587
I 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 Adams— XVIII, p. 483. Usually misquoted as "Democracy…while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy".
I 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 Adams— John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson (September 3, 1816). Published in Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams (UNC Press, 1988), p. 488.
The 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 Adams— John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson. Published in The Quotable John Adams (Globe Pequot, 2008), p. 185ff.
The 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 Adams— John Adams, First Address to Congress (November 23, 1797).
Fear is the foundation of most governments.
John Adams— John Adams, Thoughts on Government (1776).
You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
John Adams— Letter to John Quincy Adams (14 May 1781).
A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.
John Adams— Diary and Autobiography (14 November 1760)
