A biography for Samuel Adamshasn’t been written yet.
“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”
“'But,' say the puling, pusillanimous cowards, 'we shall be subject to a long and bloody war if we declare independence.' On the contrary, I affirm it the only step that can bring the contest to a speedy and happy issue.”
“Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.”
“While I am in this world, I am resolved that no vexation shall put me out of temper if I can possibly command myself. Even old age, which is making strides towards me, shall not prevail to make me peevish.”
“We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.”
“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
“I do not regret the part I have taken in a cause so just and interesting to mankind.”
“הזהו בוקר מהולל של אמריקה.”
“אם אחד מעדיף עושר על פני חירות, את השלווה שבשעבוד על פני התחרות התוססת של החופש- עזבנו בשלווה. איננו צריכים את עצות שלך ולא את עזרתך. פול ארצה ולקק את היד שמאכילה אותך. הלוואי והשרשראות יונחו עליך בעדינות ושהדורות הבאים ישכחו כי היית פעם בן ארצנו.”
“מגורשים מכל פינה על כדור הארץ. חופש המחשבה והזכות לשיפוט מצפוני אישי הובילו אותם אל הארץ השמחה הזאת. מקלטם האחרון.”
“Power is, in its nature, encroaching; and such is the human make that men who are vested with a share of it are generally inclined to take more than it was intended they should have.”
“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.”
“He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.”
“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.”
“There is a solid satisfaction in one's having and being conscious that he merits the good opinion of men of true discernment and real worth. But to have a name among the weak and the wicked is shame and reproach.”
“The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
“We have proclaimed to the world our determination 'to die freemen, rather than to live slaves.' We have appealed to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and in Heaven we have placed our trust.”
“Numerous have been the manifestations of God's providence in sustaining us. In the gloomy period of adversity, we have had 'our cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.' We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up.”
“Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.”
“How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!”