Quotes from Abigail Adams

Great necessities call forth great leaders.

History is not a web woven with innocent hands. Among all the causes which degrade and demoralize men, power is the most constant and most active.

The Character which a youth acquires in the early part of his Life is of great importance towards his future prosperity-one false step may prove irretrievable to his future usefulness.

If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.

My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.

Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

I hate to complain...No one is without difficulties, whether in high or low life, and every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.

We have too many high sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.

I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.

The habits of a vigorous mind are born in contending with difficulties.

Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.

Its never to late to get back on your feet though we wont live forever make sure you accomplish what you were put here for

To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.

If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instill'd take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women.

When he is wounded, I bleed. {page 262 of John Adams}

These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.

But let no person say what they would or would not do, since we are not judges for ourselves until circumstances call us to act.

Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to forment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.

Remember the Ladies.

Great necessities call out great virtues.

My Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.