Quotes from Abigail Adams

From her character in the HBO miniseries: The art of politics is the art of applying the seat of the britches to the seat of the chair.

Should I draw you the picture of my heart it would be what I hope you would still love though it contained nothing new. The early possession you obtained there, and the absolute power you have obtained over it, leaves not the smallest space unoccupied.

Deliver me from your cold phlegmatic preachers, politicians, friends, lovers and husbands.

No one is without their difficulties, whether in High, or low Life, & every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.

I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, 'Give, give.'

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.

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.

O, I have read his Heart in his wicked eyes many a time. The very devil is in them.

The theater has been called the pulse of the people.

The heart is long, very long in receiving the convictions that is forced upon it by reason... affection still lingers in the Bosom, even after esteem has taken its flight.

A little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world.

Great learning and superior abilities...will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them.

These are the times when a genius wants to live.

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

It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. ... Great necessities call out great virtues.

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

Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues.

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

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature.

My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.

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.

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