Quotes from John Adams

Be it remembered, that liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we have not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.

Liberty once lost, is lost forever.

Defeat appears to me preferable to total Inaction.

I cannot think it either Vanity or Virtue to acknowledge, that the Acquisition and communication of Knowledge, are the sole Entertainment of my Life

Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.

The nation which will not adopt an equilibrium of power must adopt a despotism. There is no other alternative.

We hear very often declarations on the demoralizing tendency of war, but as much as I hate war, I cannot be of the opinion that frequent wars are so corrupting to human nature as long peaces.

But I am bold to say there is not a fact nor a reason stated in it, which had not been frequently urged in Congress. The temper and wishes of the people supplied every thing at that time; and the phrases, suitable for an emigrant from Newgate, or one who had chiefly associated with such company, such as, "The Royal Brute of England," "The blood upon his soul," and a few others of equal delicacy, had as much weight with the people as his arguments.

he was very intemperate, and could not write until he had quickened his thoughts with large draughts of rum and water; that he was, in short, a bad character, and not fit to be placed in such a situation.

The national defense must be provided for as well as the support of Government; but both should be accomplished as much as possible by immediate taxes, and as little as possible by loans.

En mis muchos años, he llegado a la conclusión que un hombre inútil es una lástima, dos son una firma legal, y tres o más son un congreso

If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of (Ignatius de) Loyola.

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

The destiny of America is to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to all men everywhere.

There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state.

Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

A native of America who cannot read or write is . . . as rare as a comet or an earthquake.

But I must submit all my Hopes and Fears, to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the Faith may be, I firmly believe.

There is not an enemy so stout, as to storm and take the fortress of the mind, Unless its infirmity turn traitor, and Fear unbar the gates.

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

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.

I cannot conceive such a Being could make such a Species as the human, merely to live and die on this earth

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing

Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates in all future periods of this commonwealth to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences