John Quincy Adams Quotes

Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Saviour?

Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America's heart, her benedictions and her prayers.

This is the last of earth! I am content.

The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.

We know the redemption must come. The time and the manner of its coming we know not: It may come in peace, or it may come in blood; but whether in peace or in blood, LET IT COME.

The declaration that our People are hostile to a government made by themselves, for themselves, and conducted by themselves, is an insult.

Death fixes forever the relation existing between the departed spirit and the survivors upon earth.

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.

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.

The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible.

The best guarantee against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections.

A stout heart, a clear conscience, and never despair.

Life is a problem; mortal man was made to solve the solemn problem right or wrong.

Westward the star of empire takes its way.

Where annual elections end where slavery begins.

The imagination of a eunuch dwells more and longer upon the material of love than that of man or woman ... supplying, so far as he can, by speculation, the place of pleasures he can no longer enjoy.

Among the sentiments of most powerful operation upon the human heart, and most highly honorable to the human character, are those of veneration for our forefathers and of love for our posterity.

To believe that everyone is honest is folly, but to believe that no one is honest is worse.

It is by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that [people] are enabled to judge correctly of the past and to give a proper direction to the future.

To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself, and enlarges the sphere of existence.

A man's diary is a record in youth of his sentiments, in middle age of his actions, in old age of his reflections.

The law is an artificial human construct, quite arbitrary, and of absolutely no use anywhere else but in a court of law!

I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year.

We know the redemption must come.

The gigantic intellect, the envious temper, the ravenous ambition and the rotten heart of Daniel Webster.

America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government.

Roll, years of promise, rapidly roll round, till not a slave shall on this earth be found.

To live without having a Cicero and a Tacitus at hand seems to me as if it was aprivation of one of my limbs.

Let us not be unmindful that liberty is power, that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth.

In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue.

It has been my custom for many years to read the Bible in its entirety once a year

Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.

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.

About one-half of the members of Congress are seekers for office at the nomination of the President. Of the remainder, at least one-half have some appointment or favor to ask for their relatives.

But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow... Like a Coach and six - the swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened, that all may keep an even Pace.

A gentleman of one of the first fortunes upon the continent...sacrificing his ease, and hazarding all in the cause of his country.

A stranger would think that the people of the United States had no other occupation than electioneering.

This mode of electioneering suited neither my taste nor my principles. I thought it equally unsuitable to my personal character and to the station in which I am placed.

The mere title of lawyer is sufficient to deprive a man of the public confidence. ... The most innocent and irreproachable life cannot guard a lawyer against the hatred of his fellow citizens.

There is nothing so deep and nothing so shallow which political enmity will not turn to account.

Our Constitution professedly rests upon the good sense and attachment of the people. This basis, weak as it may appear, has not yet been found to fail.

The conflict between the principle of liberty and the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. Slavery has now the power, and falls into convulsions at the approach of freedom.

I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong.

The great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community... that in the operation of human institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the same.

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.

To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is ... the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself and enlarges the sphere of existence.

The author points out that the moral failure of Abigail Adams' brother focused her on disciplining her children, and herself, so that they did not come to the same end.

No sermon I have heard or read touched my heart with half the force of this puppet show. John Quincy Adams

Shakespeare's work had a liberating influence.

John Quincy Adams strove to escape commonplace thoughts.