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John Adams

163 quotes

“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 (1735–1826) first seen 1780 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Jonathan Jackson (2 October 1780), "The Works of John Adams", vol 9, p. 511
“You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1781 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to John Quincy Adams (14 May 1781)
“Thanks be to God, that he gave me Stubborness, when I know I am right.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1782 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Edmund Jenings, 27 September 1782, also quoted in John Adams (2008) by David McCullough, p. 272
“Neither my father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, great grandfather or great grandmother, nor any other relation that I know of, or care a farthing for, has been in England these one hundred and fifty years; so that you see I have not one drop of blood in my veins but what is American.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1785 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To an ambassador (1785), as quoted in The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: Autobiography (1851), by Charles F. Adams, p. 392.
“All the perplexities, confusions, and distresses in America arise, not from defects in their constitution or confederation, not from a want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (23 August 1787), The Works of John Adams.
“The new Government has my best Wishes and most fervent Prayers, for its Success and Prosperity: but whether I shall have any Thing more to do with it, besides praying for it, depends on the future suffrages of Freemen.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (2 January 1789), The Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
“We took the liberty to make some enquiries concerning the ground of their pretentions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Thomas Jefferson
“The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense, in a house of representatives. The most illustrious of them must, therefore, be separated from the mass, and placed by themselves in a senate; this is, to all honest and useful intents, an ostracism.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shall not covet," and "Thou shall not steal," are not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A single assembly will never be a steady guardian of the laws, if Machiavel is right, when he says, Men are never good but through necessity: on the contrary, when good and evil are left to their choice, they will not fail to throw every thing into disorder and confusion. Hunger and poverty may make men industrious, but laws only can make them good; for, if men were so of themselves, there would be no occasion for laws; but, as the case is far otherwise, they are absolutely necessary.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This is attributed to Adams in The Life of Thomas Jefferson (1858) by Henry Stephens Randall, p. 587
“There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state, the majesty of the people, call it what you will — a doge, an avoyer, an archon, a president, a consul, a syndic; this becomes at once an object of ambition and dispute, and, in time, of division, faction, sedition, and rebellion.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklins electrical Rod, smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod—and thence forward these two conducted all the Policy, Negotiations, Legislatures and War.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Benjamin Rush, 4 April 1790. Alexander Biddle, Old Family Letters, Series A (Philadelphia: 1892), p. 55
“My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and meet the common fate.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Vice-Presidency of the United States, in a letter to Abigail Adams (19 December 1793).
“I read my eyes out and can't read half enough. … The more one reads the more one sees we have to read.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1794 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Abigail Adams (28 December 1794), Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society
“The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity, and humanity, let the blackguard Paine say what he will; it is resignation to God, it is goodness itself to man.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry (26 July 1796)
“Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast as Petrarch for the revival of the republic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry (31 July 1796)
“It is folly to anticipate evils, and madness to create imaginary ones.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry (4 August 1796)
“Omnium rerum domina, virtus. Virtue is the mistress of all things. Virtue is the master of all things. Therefore a nation that should never do wrong must necessarily govern the world. The might of virtue, the power of virtue, is not a very common topic, not so common as it should be.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry (6 August 1796)
“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 (1735–1826) first seen 1797 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First Address to Congress (23 November 1797)
“[N]o pretext, arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1797 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Treaty with the bey of Tunis (1797).
“Although neither nation has been brought to admit that they were chargeable with the first infraction, yet no American can forget the carrying off the negroes.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1799 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to T. Pickering (7 December 1799), Philadelphia.
“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 (1735–1826) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Discourses on Davila: A Series of Papers on Political History," No. 4 Gazette of the United States (1790–1791)
“When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1735–1826) first seen 1800 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the White House, in a letter to Abigail Adams (2 November 1800)
“I had heard my father say that he never knew a piece of land run away or break.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1802 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Autobiography (1802–1807)
“There is one Resolution I will not omit. Resolved that no Slaves be imported into any of the thirteen colonies.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Autobiography (1802–1807), passage on events of April 6, 1776, The Founding Fathers: John Adams: A Biography in his own Words (1973), by James Bishop Peabody, Newsweek, New York, p. 197
“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1808 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Benjamin Rush (18 April 1808)
“Callender and Sally will be remembered as long as Jefferson as Blotts in his Character. The story of the latter, is a natural and almost unavoidable Consequence of that foul contagion in the human Character [—] Negro Slavery.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1810 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Joseph Ward, 8 January 1810, stating his belief in the reports of James T. Callender that Thomas Jefferson was the father of the children of Sally Hemmings; also quoted in Scandalmonger‎ (2001) by William Safi…
“You think it impossible the Convention could have a thought of war with Great Britain, and the conquest of Canada. In this point I differ from you very widely. The conduct of Great Britain, and the conduct of our States, too, was such as to keep up very serious apprehensions between the two powers. The treaty of peace was not fulfilled on either side.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1811 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Josiah Quincy (9 February 1811), Quincy.
“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 (1735–1826) first seen 1811 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 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 (1735–1826) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (9 July 1813)
“You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (15 July 1813)
“Indeed, Mr. Jefferson, what could be invented to debase the ancient Christianism which Greeks, Romans, Hebrews and Christian factions, above all the Catholics, have not fraudulently imposed upon the public? Miracles after miracles have rolled down in torrents.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (3 December 1813), published in Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams (UNC Press, 1988), p. 404
“Five and forty years ago, when any terrible News arrived from England of their hostile designs against our Liberties, when the people, gaping and staring, pale and trembling, asked me, "What I thought of the News," my invariable Answer was, "The worse, the better.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1814 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Elbridge Gerry (14 July 1814). Quoted in Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams (2001 edition), p. 84
“If the Christian religion, as I understand it, or as you understand it, should maintain its ground, as I believe it will, yet Platonic, Pythagoric, Hindoo, and cabalistic Christianity, which is Catholic Christianity, and which has prevailed for 1,500 years, has received a mortal wound, of which the monster must finally die. Yet so strong is his constitution, that he may endure for centuries before he expires.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1814 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson (16 July 1814). From the Works of John Adams, Vol. X, p. 100
“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 (1735–1826) first seen 1814 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (16 July 1814)
“Government has no right to hurt a hair on the head of an atheist for his opinions. Let him have a care of his practices.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1816 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to John Quincy Adams (16 June 1816). Adams Papers (microfilm), reel 432, Library of Congress. James H. Hutson (ed.), The Founders on Religion: A Book of Quotations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007…
“As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760–1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (24 August 1815), The Works of John Adams; he later expressed similar sentiments in a letter to Hezekiah Niles (13 February 1818)
“We may appeal to every page of history we have hitherto turned over, for proofs irrefragable, that the people, when they have been unchecked, have been as unjust, tyrannical, brutal, barbarous and cruel as any king or senate possessed of uncontrollable power.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All projects of government, formed upon a supposition of continual vigilance, sagacity, and virtue, firmness of the people, when possessed of the exercise of supreme power, are cheats and delusions.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor. Equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody, and in every respect diabolical.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (13 November 1815)
“Power always sincerely, conscientiously, de très bon foi, believes itself right. Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's Service, when it is violating all his Laws.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1816 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (2 February 1816)
“Government has no right to hurt the hair of an Atheist for his Opinions. Let him have a care of his Practices.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1816 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to John Quincy Adams (16 June 1816). Adams Papers (microfilm), reel 432, Library of Congress. James H. Hutson (ed.), The Founders on Religion: A Book of Quotations. Princeton University Press, 2007, p. 20
“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! With the rational respect that is due to it, knavish priests have added prostitutions of it, that fill or might fill the blackest and bloodiest pages of human history.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1816 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (3 September 1816), published in Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams (UNC Press, 1988), p. 488
“Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1816 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his son, John Quincy Adams (13 November 1816)
“Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!" But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell.”
John Adams (1735–1826) first seen 1817 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Original manuscript at The Library of Congress Letter to Thomas Jefferson (19 April 1817). The italicized section within this statement has often been quoted out of context. Earlier in the letter Adams explained "Lemuel…