John Adams Quotes

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.

In politics the middle way is none at all.

A government of laws, and not of men.

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.

The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.

I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.

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.

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

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.

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

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

Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.

All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

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.