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John Adams Quotes
These John Adams Quotes are taken from his own letters, speeches and writings. John Adams
was one of the great patriot leaders of the American Revolution and the second President
of the United States. These John Adams Quotes are listed chronologically with links to
more at the bottom.
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John Adams Quotes
"Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom,
whatever can be warranted by the laws of your country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled
out of your liberties by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they
are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice." -
A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read,
think, speak, and write." - A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker.
But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their
ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." - A Dissertation on the Canon
and Feudal Law, 1765
"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and
exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite
in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and
an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds
to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives." - A Dissertation
on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
"I have accepted a seat in the [Massachusetts] House of Representatives, and thereby
have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and the ruin of our children. I give you
this warning, that you may prepare your mind for your fate." - Letter to Abigail
Adams, May, 1770
"Human government is more or less perfect as it approaches nearer or diverges farther
from the imitation of this perfect plan of divine and moral government." - Draft
of a Newspaper Communication, About August, 1770
Read on for more great
John Adams Quotes
"The law... will not bend to the uncertain wishes, imaginations and wanton tempers of
men... On the one hand it is inexorable to the cries and lamentations of the prisoners;
on the other it is deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clamors of the populace." - Argument
in Defense of the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials, December 4, 1770
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the
dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - In
Defense of the British Soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, December 4, 1770
"He requires of me, such Complyances, such horrid Crimes, such a Sacrifice of my Honour,
my Conscience, my Friends, my Country, my God, as the Scriptures inform us must be
punished with nothing less than Hell Fire, eternal Torment. And this is so unequal
a Price to pay for the Honours and Emoluments in the Power of a Minister or Governor,
that I cannot prevail upon myself to think of it. The Duration of future Punishment
terrifies me. If I could but deceive myself so far as to think Eternity a Moment
only, I could comply, and be promoted." - Diary Entry, referring to the prospect
of being tempted to promote a government official unjustly for personal gain,
February 9, 1772
"If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any
essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society,
would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift
of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily
become a slave." - Rights of the Colonists, November 20, 1772
"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." - Notes for an
Oration at Braintree, Massachusetts, Spring, 1772
"This is the most magnificent movement of all! There is a dignity, a majesty, a
sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire. The people
should never rise without doing something to be remembered — something notable
and striking. This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid
and inflexible, and it must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that
I can't but consider it as an epocha in history!" - Diary entry, about the
Boston Tea Party, December 17, 1773
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John Adams Quotes
 John Adams Presidential Coin
"When the Congress met, Mr. Cushing made a motion that it should be opened with Prayer.
It was opposed by Mr. Jay of New York and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina because we were
so divided in religious sentiments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists,
some Presbyterians and some Congregationalists, that we could not join in the same act
of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said, "that he was no bigot; and could hear a
Prayer from any gentleman of Piety and virtue who was at the same time a friend to his
Country. He was a stranger in Philadelphia, but had heard that Mr. Duche` deserved that
character and therefore he moved that Mr. Duche' an Episcopal clergy man, might be desired
to read Prayers to Congress tomorrow morning." The motion was seconded, and passed in the
affirmative. Mr. Randolph, our president waited on Mr. Duche` and received for answer,
that if his health would permit, he certainly would. Accordingly next morning he appeared
with his clerk and in his pontificals, and read several Prayers in the established form and
then read the Psalter for the seventh day of September which was the 35th Psalm. You must
remember this was the next morning after we had heard the rumor of the horrible cannonade
of Boston, "it seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning."
After this, Mr Duche` unexpectedly to everybody, struck out into extemporary Prayer, which
filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess I never heard a better Prayer, one so
well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor,
such order, such correctness, and pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime for America,
for Congress, for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, especially the town of Boston. It had
excellent effect upon every body here. I must beg you to read the Psalm. Here was a scene
worthy of the printers art. It was in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia, a building which
still survives, that the devoted individuals met to whom this service was read. Washington
was kneeling there, and Henry, Randolph, Rutledge, Lee, and Jay, and by their side there
stood bowed in reverence, the Puritan Patriots of New England, who at that moment had reason
to believe that an armed soldiery was wasting their humble households. It was believed that
Boston had been bombarded and destroyed. They prayed fervently "for America, for Congress,
for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially for the town of Boston", and who can
realize the emotions with which they turned imploringly to Heaven for Divine interposition
and aid. "It was enough", says Mr. Adams to melt a heart of stone. I saw the tears gush
into the eyes of the old, grave Pacific Quakers of Philadelphia." - Letter to Abigail
Adams, September 7, 1774
"This day I went to Dr. Allison's meeting in the afternoon, and heard the Dr. Francis
Allison... give a good discourse upon the Lord's Supper... I had rather go to Church.
We have better sermons, better prayers, better speakers, softer, sweeter music, and
genteeler company. And I must confess that the Episcopal church is quite as agreeable
to my taste as the Presbyterian... I like the Congregational way best, next to that the
Independent..." - Letter to Abigail Adams, October, 1774
"It is the duty of the clergy to accommodate their discourses to the times, to preach
against such sins as are most prevalent, and recommend such virtues as are most wanted.
For example, if exorbitant ambition against those vices? If public spirit is much wanted,
should they not inculcate this great virtue? If the rights and duties of Christian
magistrates and subjects are disputed, should they not explain there. show their nature,
ends, limitations, and restrictions, how much soever it may move the gall of Massachusetts." -
Novanglus, A History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin, in 1754, to the
Present Time, 1774
"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve
the liberties of any people." - The Novanglus Papers, No. 3, Boston Gazette, 1774-1775
Need some more John Adams
Quotes? Read on!
"Metaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other
moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, than the consent of governors and
governed." - The Novanglus papers, No. 7, Boston Gazette, 1774-1775
"If Aristotle, lixiviate, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution
is much more like a republic than an empire. They define a republic to be a government
of laws, and not of men. If this definition is just, the British constitution is nothing
more or less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being
hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection
to the government's being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the
people have a voice in making, and a right to defend." - As Novanglus, in Boston
Gazette, March 6, 1775
"But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow. It is like a large
Fleet sailing under Convoy. The fleetest Sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest.
Like a Coach and six-the swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened,
that all may keep an even Pace." - Letter to Abigail Adams, June 11, 1775
"We have appointed a continental Fast. Millions will be upon their Knees at once before
their great Creator, imploring his Forgiveness and Blessing, his Smiles on American
Councils and Arms." - Letter to Abigail Adams, June 17, 1775
"A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty,
once lost, is lost forever." - Letter to Abigail Adams, July 7, 1775
"Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature
a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration
of virtue. These amiable passions, are the "latent spark..." If the people are capable
of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and
wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than
to the sense of this difference?" - The Novanglus, 1775
You can visit John and Abigail's home today. It is managed by the
National Park Service and has lots of memorabilia and history to absorb.
Visit the Adams'
Home website here.
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Did you enjoy these John Adams Quotes? Check out these inspirational
quotations from some other Founding Fathers
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