A biography for John Adamshasn’t been written yet.
“A government of laws, and not of men.”
“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”
“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
“As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children.”
“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”
“Genius is sorrow's child.”
“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.”
“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.”
“The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.”
“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”
“The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.”
“In politics the middle way is none at all.”
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”
“Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination - everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.”
“Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”
“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.”
“A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.”
“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.”
“While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.”
“Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.”