John Adams

When People talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

You and I ought not to die, before We have explained ourselves to each other.

[ Upon moving into the new White House :] 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.

But my Country has in its Wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant Office [the vice-presidency] 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.

Amidst your Ardor for Greek and Latin I hope you will not forget your mother Tongue. Read Somewhat in the English Poets every day. . . . You will never be alone, with a Poet in your Poket. You will never have an idle Hour.

You are afraid of the one—I, of the few. We agree perfectly that the many should have a full fair and perfect Representation.—You are Apprehensive of Monarchy; I, of Aristocracy. I would therefore have given more Power to the President and less to the Senate.

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

I am but an ordinary Man. The Times alone have destined me to Fame—and even these have not been able to give me, much. . . . Yet some great Events, some cutting Expressions, some mean Hypocrisies, have at Times, thrown this Assemblage of Sloth, Sleep, and littleness into Rage a little like a Lion.

The law, in all vicissitudes of government, fluctuations of the passions, or flights of enthusiasm, will preserve a steady undeviating course; it will not bend to the uncertain wishes, imaginations, and wanton tempers of men. . . . On the one hand it is inexorable to the cries and lamentations of the prisoners; on the other it is deaf, deaf as an adder to the clamors of the populace.

The judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that.

A Pen is certainly an excellent Instrument, to fix a Mans Attention and to inflame his Ambition.

The universal object and idol of men of letters is reputation.

Riches attract the attention, consideration, and congratulations of mankind.

All sober inquirers after truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.

Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.

Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens the understanding and softens the heart.

This wasted time I have found by constant experience to be as indispensable as sleep. It cannot be employed in reading, nor even in thinking upon any serious subject. It must be wasted on trifles—doing nothing. The string of the bow must be slackened, and the bow itself laid aside.

The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.

The divine science of government is the science of social happiness, and the blessings of society depend entirely on the constitutions of government.

As the happiness of the people is the sole end of government, so the consent of the people is the only foundation of it.

Genius is sorrow’s child.

Education makes a greater difference between man and man than nature has made between man and brute.

Had I been chosen President again, I am certain I could not have lived another year.

There is danger from all men.

Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty but it is religion and morality alone that can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

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.

You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.

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.

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.

Jefferson still survives.

...a revolution of government is the strongest proof that can be given by a people of their virtue and good sense.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.