Quotes by John Adams

John Adams

John Adams

President of the USA (2nd)

Lived from: 1735 - 1826

Born: 30 october 1735 Died: 4 july 1826

  • 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.
  • 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.

Quotes 1 till 20 of 26.

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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
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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
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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
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  • Facts are stubborn things.
    In een rechtzaal, 4 december 1770
    ― John Adams
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  • Fear is the foundation of most governments.
    Thoughts on Government, Apr. 1776
    ― John Adams
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  • Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.
    Letter to Abigail Adams, 19-05-1794
    ― John Adams
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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 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.
    ― John Adams
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  • I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
    ― John Adams
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  • If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
    ― John Adams
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  • In politics the middle way is none at all.
    ― John Adams
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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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  • Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.
    ― John Adams
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  • Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
    ― John Adams
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  • Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.
    ― John Adams
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  • Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
    A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)
    ― John Adams
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  • Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
    ― John Adams
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  • The happiness of society is the end of government.
    A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)
    ― John Adams
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  • 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
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What are the most famous quotes from John Adams?

The two most famous quotes from John Adams are:

  • "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"
  • "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."

When did John Adams live?

John Adams was born in 1735 and died in the year 1826.