John Adams Quotes

Let frugality and industry be our virtues.

The National defence is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.

We must not then depend alone upon the love of liberty in the soul of man for its preservation.

Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell.

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

Power in any Form . . ., when directed only by human Wisdom and Benevolence, is dangerous.

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

Elections to office, which are the great objects of ambition, I look at with terror!

Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.

Slavery is a foul contagion in the human character.

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.

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

A taste for literature and a business turn, united in the same person, never fails to make a great man.

Politics are a labyrinth without a clue.

It is weakness rather than wickedness that renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power.

Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.

The true source of our sufferings has been our timidity.

My God, This is a revolution! We have to offend someone!

Power must never be trusted without a check.

Ideology is the science of idiots.

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

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

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

The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families.

He is too illiterate, unread, unlearned for his station and reputation.

Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.

When the legislature is corrupted, the people are undone.

We have no Constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people

Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

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

Always stand on principle even if you stand alone.

One useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three is a Congress.