Home / Quotes / Quote by Gordon S. Wood

Quote by Gordon S. Wood

“[John Adams's] vividly descriptive prose is supremely quotable. Adams wears his heart on his sleeve and reveals all of his ambitions, doubts, and insecurities, especially in his diary, which is one of the greatest and most readable in all of American literature.”

Quote by Gordon S. Wood

Author

Gordon S. Wood is an American historian renowned for his extensive research on the American Revolution. His book 'The Creation of the American Republic' won the Pulitzer Prize for History. more

You May Also Like

“I am a firm believer in playing the type of music that compliments the song the best. If it's a folk song make it sound like one. If it's a rock song make it sound like one, if it's a rap song take it off the record.”

Ifs Song Sound Records Rocks Type Folks Rap Believer Firm Compliment Folk Songs Rap Song Rock Song

Author:William Clark Green

“[John] Adams never hid his jealousy and resentment of the other Founders, especially Benjamin Franklin.”

Resentment Founders Franklin

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“[John] Adams's letters to [his wife] Abigail are wonderful. In his letters, he is loving, humorous, preachy, learned, and saucy. He speaks to her with almost complete abandon, revealing all of his sensuous and vulnerable nature.”

Speak Wife Wonderful Humorous Letters Vulnerable Abandon Revealing Sensuous Abigail

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“[John Adams] diary, of course, is even more revealing of his feelings. Both his letters to [his wife] Abigail and his diary tell us what he really thinks about people and events.”

People Thinking Feelings Courses Wife Events Letters Revealing Diaries Abigail

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“[John Adams] letters courting Abigail Smith are especially priceless. In one of 1764 he addresses her as "Miss Adorable" and says that "By the same Token that the Bearer hereof satt up with you last night I hereby order you to give him, as many Kisses, and as many Hours of your Company after 9 O'Clock as he shall please to Demand and charge them to my Account."”

Giving Lasts Night Order Hours Company Missing Please Demand Kissing Letters Accounts Clock Addresses Last Night Priceless Adorable Tokens Abigail

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“I think [John's Adams] descriptions of the personalities of [Benjamin] Franklin and [Tomas] Jefferson and others were pretty accurate. It is only when he felt he was wronged by them that he lets loose his anger and resentment.”

Thinking Felt Personality Description Resentment Accurate Franklin Wronged Anger And Resentment Tomas Jefferson

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“[John Adams] is impressed with [Tomas] Jefferson's learning, but noted his silence during the debates in the Congress: "I never heard him utter three Sentences together."”

Together Three Silence Heard Congress Sentences Debate Impressed Tomas Jefferson

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“[John's Adams] description of [Benjamin] Franklin in a letter to [his wife] Abigail in 1775 is laudatory. Only when he experiences all the adulation paid to Franklin in Paris does he begin to change his tune.”

Doe Wife Letters Paid Paris Tunes Description Franklin Adulation Abigail

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“[Benjamin] Franklin may be a great philosopher, [John Adams] told his diary in 1779, but "as a Legislator in America he has done very little."”

May Littles Done America Philosopher Diaries Franklin Legislators Great Philosophers

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“By 1782 [John Adams] had come to feel for [Benjamin] Franklin "no other sentiments than Contempt or Abhorrence."”

Feels Sentiments Contempt Franklin Abhorrence

Author:Gordon S. Wood