If history teaches anything, it teaches humility.

History is the queen of the humanities. It teaches wisdom and humility, and it tells us how things change through time.

The relationship between [John] Adams and [Tomas] Jefferson was extraordinary. They differed on every conceivable issue, except on the Revolution and the love of their country.

[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."

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

Americans, [John Adams] wrote in 1780, believed that their "revolution is as much for the benefit of the generality of Mankind in Europe, as for their own."

More than any other figure in our history [Tomas] Jefferson is responsible for the idea of American exceptionalism.

[Tomas] Jefferson believed that the United States was a chosen nation with a special responsibility to spread democracy around the world.

It was [John's Adams] Massachusetts constitution if anything that influenced people.

[John Adams' writings] had indicted the United States for slavishly copying the English constitution by erecting bicameral legislatures in their state constitutions, most drafted in 1776.

I think [John] Adams was correct when he said that his May resolutions were "an Epocha, a decisive Event," and tantamount to a declaration of independence.

I love the smell of coffee when I wake up in the morning. It gives me the awesome feeling of hope!

Let thy power be a prayer.

The true measure of a best friend is where they are when you “make” the biggest decision of your life, not where they were during the decision process.

All Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care.

If you love something, the work will be just fine.

Every novelist has a different purpose-and often several purposes which might even be contradictory.

I don't watch my movies. I just get too critical of myself.

Exercise of body and exercise of mind are supplementary, and both may be made recreative and educative.

My job is for the people. It's for the public. It's for their consumption. So I've done a lot in that way, and I see that the hard work has finally paid off.

Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity