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John Adams

John Adams Quotes

2nd U.S. President

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Famous John Adams Quotes

“A lawyer once told a jury that the person his client stood accused of having killed was about to walk through the courtroom door. When the jurors looked startled, the lawyer asserted that if those jurors had wondered, even for one second that the victim might appear, that belief constituted enough reasonable doubt for them to find his client innocent.”

IfsPersonsEnoughMightLawBeliefWalksDoubtDoorsVictimLawyerInnocentReasonableClientsAccusedJuryCourtroomJurorsReasonable Doubt
Author:John Adams
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“The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now. They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.”

PeopleIfsMayGovernmentFormLibertyVirtuePureConstitutionFoundationInspiredLastingRulersFoundingForms Of GovernmentOur Founding FathersAmerican RevolutionUs Founding FathersBe InspiredAmerican GovernmentFree GovernmentFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersMorality And ReligionMoral Virtues
Author:John Adams
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“In vain are Schools, Academies, and Universities instituted, if loose Principles and licentious habits are impressed upon Children in their earliest years . . . . The Vices and Examples of the Parents cannot be concealed from the Children. How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers.”

IfsYearsChildrenSchoolMotherFatherParentEducationPrinciplesExampleHabitMoralitySacredConstantUniversityVicesObligationVainImpressedInfidelityAcademyConcealedInfancyHabitual
Book:The Portable John Adams
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“Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs, and life, but of my property, is an indisputable right of nature which I have never surrendered to the public by the compact of society, and which perhaps, I could not surrender if I would.”

IfsLifePersonsNatureViolenceGunPropertySurrenderResistanceGun ControlPreservationLimbsCompactNever Surrender
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of virtue. These amiable passions, are the "latent spark" . . . If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?”

PeopleIfsHumansFeelingsPassionUnderstandingDifferencesLibertyPrinciplesVirtueSeeingMankindHuman NatureCapableVicesInjurySparksResentmentFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyIndignationLatentAmiableVenerationEvermoreAmerican LibertyTrue And False
Book:Novanglus and Massachusettensis; or, political essays, published in ... 1774 and 1775, on the principal points of controversy, between Great Britain and her colonies; the former by John Adams ... the latter by Jonathan Sewall [or rather, Daniel Leonard] ... To which are added a number of letters lately written by President Adams to the Hon. William Tudor, etc
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“I do not like the late resurrection of the Jesuits. . . . If ever any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth, and in hell, according to these historians, though, like Pascal, true Catholics, it is this company of Loyolas.”

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Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form?”

IfsMenGovernmentFormPrinciplesVirtueFoundationAcknowledgeSoberForms Of Government
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can. A better system of education for the common people might preserve them long from such artificial inequalities as are prejudicial to society, by confounding the natural distinctions of right and wrong, virtue and vice.”

PeopleIfsShouldTryingLongStillsTwoMightAmericaThreeNaturalFreedomCommonLibertyMillionsVirtueImpossibleKingsHundredHorseAgreeVicesNobleExperimentsInequalityPreservesRisingDistinctionEmpiresArtificialHobbiesFreemanConfounding
Book:Works: with a life of the author
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“The deliberate union of so great and various a people in such a place, is without all partiality or prejudice, if not the greatest exertion of human understanding, the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen.”

PeopleIfsWorldHumansUnderstandingEffortPrejudiceUnionsVariousDeliberateExertionDeliberationPartialityConstitutional Convention
Book:The Works of John Adams Vol. 6: Defence of the Constitution IV, Discourses on Davila
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“I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.”

IfsMenShouldBelieveStillsEarthThreeGivenNationsFateModernMankindEssentialsEternalInstrumentsBlindAffairAncientAtheistJewGloriousEmpiresComparisonQuartersBubblesGlobesJudaismHebrewHands TiedJewish Religion
Author:John Adams
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“Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, 'this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!' But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company-I mean hell.”

IfsWorldShouldMeanHas BeensWould BePoliticalCoursesReadingPoliticsCompanyHellThis WorldFitLateShould HaveTwentiesBeing The BestShould Have BeenFounding Fathers ChristianFounding Fathers ReligionFounding Fathers ReligiousFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers AtheistChristianity From Founding FathersExclamation
Book:John Adams: a biography in his own words
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“If the Christian religion, as I understand it, or as you understand it, should maintain its ground, as I believe it will, yet Platonic, Pythagoric, Hindoo, and cabalistical Christianity, which is Catholic Christianity, and which has prevailed for 1500 years, has received a mortal wound, of which the monster must finally die. Yet so strong is his constitution, that he may endure for centuries before he expires.”

IfsShouldYearsBelieveMayChristianDiesBeliefStrongI BelieveChristianityCenturyConstitutionCatholicEndureWoundsMonstersMortalsPlatonic
Author:John Adams
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“It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting, and distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, it will have the good effect at least. It will inspire us with many virtues, which we have not, and correct many errors, follies and vices. But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.”

IfsBelieveMayStillsAmericaSufferingHeavenCasesVirtueEffectsInspireErrorsVicesFollySubmitProvidenceDistressCalamityHopes And Fears
Author:John Adams
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“Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees, for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better agents, attorneys, and trustees.”

PeopleIfsCausesInterestAuthorityAgentsRulersBetrayedAttorneyTrustees
Book:The Political Writings of John Adams: Representative Selections
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“We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our Liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.”

IfsShouldMayEndsGovernmentChoicesNationsLosesPartyLibertyDangerFairsVoteSightIndependentElectionMajorityCorruptionDeterminedPurityVotingVirtuousUnfaithfulArtifice
Author:John Adams
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“Our whole system of banks is a violation of every honest principle of banks. There is no honest bank but a bank of deposit. A bank that issues paper at interest is a pickpocket or a robber. But the delusion will have its course. ... An aristocracy is growing out of them that will be as fatal as the feudal barons if unchecked in time.”

IfsWholeCoursesInterestPrinciplesIssuesGrowingHonestPaperDelusionViolationAristocracyRobbersDeposits
Book:Old Family Letters: Copied from the Originals for Alexander Biddle... Series A-[B]
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“If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire. They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition is just, the British constitution is nothing more or less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government's being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend.”

PeopleIfsMenFirstsLongGovernmentAmericaLawVoiceKingsOfficeConstitutionBoundsDefinitionsBritishFixedEmpiresRepublicPossessedSplendidObjectionsPrerogativeHereditaryMagistratesBritish Constitution
Book:The Works of John Adams Vol. 4: Novanglus, Thoughts on Government, Defence of the Constitution I
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“If there is ever an amelioration of the condition of mankind, philosophers, theologians, legislators, politicians and moralists will find that the regulation of the press is the most difficult, dangerous and important problem they have to resolve. Mankind cannot now be governed without it, nor at present with it.”

IfsImportantProblemDifficultConditionsMankindDangerousDangerPoliticianPressesPhilosopherResolveRegulationTheologianLegislatorsMoralist
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“A single assembly will never be a steady guardian of the laws, if Machiavel is right, when he says, Men are never good but through necessity: on the contrary, when good and evil are left to their choice, they will not fail to throw every thing into disorder and confusion. Hunger and poverty may make men industrious, but laws only can make them good; for, if men were so of themselves, there would be no occasion for laws; but, as the case is far otherwise, they are absolutely necessary.”

IfsMenMayWould BeLawChoicesEvilLeftPovertyCasesFailingHungerContraryConfusionOccasionsGood And EvilDisorderSteadyGuardianAssemblyIndustriousHunger And Poverty
Book:The Works of John Adams Vol. 4: Novanglus, Thoughts on Government, Defence of the Constitution I
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“Suppose a nation, rich and poor, high and low, ten millions in number, all assembled together; not more than one or two millions will have lands, houses, or any personal property; if we take into the account the women and children, or even if we leave them out of the question, a great majority of every nation is wholly destitute of property, except a small quantity of clothes, and a few trifles of other movables.”

IfsChildrenTwoTogetherHousePoliticsNationsPoorNumbersMillionsEconomyRichLandTenClothesLowsAccountsMajorityPropertyLiberalismQuantityTriflesRich And PoorDestituteHighs And Lows
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“If "Thou shalt not covet," and "Thou shalt not steal," were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”

IfsMadePoliticsHeavenEconomyCapitalismEconomicsStealingLiberalismCivilizedCommandmentsFoundingPrivate PropertyOur Founding FathersProperty RightsUs Founding FathersFounding AmericaReligion And GovernmentCapitalism And Socialism
Book:The Political Writings of John Adams
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“Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. But if unlimited or unbalanced power of disposing property, be put into the hands of those who have no property, France will find, as we have found, the lamb committed to the custody of the world. In such a case, all the pathetic exhortations and addresses of the national assembly to the people, to respect property, will be regarded no more than the warbles of the songsters of the forest.”

PeopleIfsWorldHandsFoundPoliticsLibertyCasesEconomyPropertyCommittedForestsFranceLiberalismAddressesUnlimitedPatheticAssemblyLambsSecuredCustodyUnbalanced
Author:John Adams
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“If the multitude is possessed of the balance of real estate, the multitude will have the balance of power, and in that case the multitude will take care of the liberty, virtue, and interest of the multitude in all acts of government.”

IfsRealGovernmentCarePoliticsInterestLibertyCasesEconomyVirtueBalanceTake CareLiberalismPossessedMultitudesEstatesBalance Of Power
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits.... Shall we not have regular swarms of them here, in as many disguises as only a king of the gipsies can assume, dressed as printers, publishers, writers and schoolmasters? If ever there was a body of men who merited damnation on earth and in Hell, it is this society of Loyola's. Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum.”

IfsMenBodyEarthReligiousHellAtheismKingsOffersAssumingPositive AtheismDisguiseNeverthelessPublishersCompelledAsylumsDamnationThis SocietyTolerationSwarmsPrinterJesuit
Author:John Adams
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“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.”

IfsMenShouldBelieveStillsDoneNationsFateAtheismEssentialsEternalInstrumentsBlindAtheistJewJudaismHebrewHands Tied
Book:The Works of John Adams Vol. 9: Letters and State Papers 1799 - 1811
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“It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, "whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection," and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever.”

IfsWorldMindImportantIdeasEndsWould BeLawDiesEvilPoliticsSecurityCrimeThis WorldCitizensGuiltProtectionLibertarianBarsInnocenceProtected
Author:John Adams
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“It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.”

IfsShouldMindChildrenCareSufferingCompassionVirtueMinesIndustryActivityAmbitionCapacityOur ChildrenInjusticeFacultyContemptCreepsInfancyHabitualMeannessInhumanityAccelerateAbhorrence
Book:The Letters of John and Abigail Adams
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“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.”

IfsWorldWould BeReligionReligiousLibertyAtheismAtheistBeing The BestDelusionInsightfulFoundersSecularAgnosticFoundingChurch And StateFreedom And LibertySeparation Of Church And StateFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersReligious FreedomFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousIf There Is A GodReligion GodReligious LibertyFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistAnti ReligiousDeismThere Being No GodChristianity From Founding FathersChristian AtheistReligion ChristianChristian FatherChristian HeritageAmerican LibertyReligion And GovernmentAnti ChristianChristian RightAgainst ReligionAnti ReligionGod DelusionFaith ReligionRevolution Founding FathersReligion In SocietyChristian GodGreatest AtheistFree Thinkers
Book:The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams
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“[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.”

IfsFatherFreedomPleasureLibertyBloodRevolutionEconomicsEaseExpensesMakersEstatesFoundingOur FatherHazardsOur Founding FathersAmerican RevolutionUs Founding FathersAmerican LibertyRevolution Founding Fathers
Book:An Eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, etc
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