John Quincy Adams Quotes
Top 76 wise famous quotes and sayings by John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams Famous Quotes & Sayings
Discover top inspirational quotes from John Quincy Adams on Wise Famous Quotes.
Civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which will not at the same time demonstrate the right of religious freedom.
A gentleman of one of the first fortunes upon the continent ... sacrificing his ease, and hazarding all in the cause of his country.
The extremes of opulence and of want are more remarkable, and more constantly obvious, in [Great Britain] than in any other place that I ever saw.
A man's diary is a record in youth of his sentiments, in middle age of his actions, in old age of his reflections.
I told him it was law logic-an artificial system of reasoning, exclusively used in courts of justice, but good for nothing anywhere else.
The gigantic intellect, the envious temper, the ravenous ambition and the rotten heart of Daniel Webster.
Not stones, nor wood, nor the art of artisans make a state; but where men are who know how to take care of themselves, these are cities and walls.
The great object of the institution of civil government is the improvement of those who are parties to the social compact.
The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived.
The best guarantee against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections.
The public history of all countries, and all ages, is but a sort of mask, richly colored. The interior working of the machinery must be foul.
I have to study politics and war so that my sons can study mathematics, commerce and agriculture, so their sons can study poetry, painting and music.
The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.
The art of making love, muffled up in furs, in the open air, with the thermometer at Zero, is a Yankee invention.
Whether to the nation or to the state, no service can be or ever will be rendered by a more able or a more faithful public servant.
Thus situated, the perilous experiment must be made. Let me make it with full deliberations, and be prepared for the consequences.
A stranger would think that the people of the United States had no other occupation than electioneering.
America ... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.
The manners of women are the surest criterion by which to determine whether a republican government is practicable in a nation or not.
I would much rather be found guilty of making a serious mistake in judgment, than to be accused of being even a little bit insincere.
Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Saviour?
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
The will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth.
Posterity
you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.
you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.
The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God. It contains the history of the creation of the world, and of mankind.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
No book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly studied, and so profoundly meditated upon as the Bible.
The law is an artificial human construct, quite arbitrary, and of absolutely no use anywhere else but in a court of law!
Those who take oaths to politically powerful secret societies cannot be depended on for loyalty to a democratic republic.
The declaration that our People are hostile to a government made by themselves, for themselves, and conducted by themselves, is an insult.
There is such seduction in a library of good books that I cannot resist the temptation to luxuriate in reading.
My stern chase after time is, to borrow a simile from Tom Paine, like the race of a man with a wooden leg after a horse.
Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
To live without having a Cicero and a Tacitus at hand seems to me as if it was aprivation of one of my limbs.
Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America's heart, her benedictions and her prayers.