Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

John Adams US President

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Oct 30, 1735
  • Died: Jul 4, 1826

John Adams was the second president of the United States, having earlier served as the first vice president of the United States. An American Founding Father, Adams was a statesman, diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain. Well educated, he was an Enlightenment political theorist who promoted republicanism, as well as a strong central government, and wrote prolifically about his often seminal ideas—both in published works and in letters to his wife and key adviser Abigail Adams. Adams was opposed to slavery, and never owned a slave. After the Boston Massacre, with anti-British feelings in Boston at a boiling point, he provided a principled, controversial, and successful legal defense of the accused British soldiers, because he believed in the right to counsel and the "protect[ion] of innocence".

Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. A lawyer and public figure in Boston, as a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence.

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

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people. freedom & knowledge

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. great & war

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

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

Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power. power

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

My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived. imagination

The happiness of society is the end of government. government, happiness & society

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

Fear is the foundation of most governments. fear

In politics the middle way is none at all. politics

A government of laws, and not of men. government & men

The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries. government

I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman. politics

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

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

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