John Adams Jr. was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father. He became the first vice president of the United States and the second president. Thought provoking John Adams quotes will inspire you to think about life, love and leadership, American Revolution and Declaration of Independence.
If you’re searching for famous presidential quotes that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of Alexander Hamilton quotes, wise Andrew Jackson quotes, and powerful Thomas Jefferson quotes.
Best John Adams Quotes
There are two types of education One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live John Adams
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence
I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading John Adams
I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy
Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write John Adams
I read my eyes out and can’t read half enough The more one reads, the more one sees that we have to read
Let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a flowing John Adams
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and converting measures in opposition to each other
Above all, except the wife and children, I want to see my books John Adams
It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy
You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket John Adams
It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished
Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant John Adams
A constitution of government, once changed from freedom, can never be restored
I read my eyes out and can’t read half enough neither The more one reads the more one sees we have to read John Adams
Individuals have conquered themselves Nations and large bodies of men, never
The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know Do justly Love mercy Walk humbly This is enough John Adams
Regard the honor and moral character of the man more than all other circumstances
Human passions unbridled by morality and religion would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net John Adams
The United States of America has exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature
Go on and improve in everything worthy John Adams
Liberty, once lost, is lost forever
Virtue is not always amiable John Adams
When the people once surrendered their share in the legislature and their right of defending the limitations upon the government, and of resisting every encroachment upon them, they can never regain it
The true source of our suffering has been our timidity We have been afraid to think Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write John Adams
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
If conscience disapproves, the loudest applauses of the world are of little value John Adams
Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war
Liberty, once lost, is lost forever John Adams
No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence John Adams
We shall convince France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and a sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, character, and interest
Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order John Adams
We hear very often declarations on the demoralizing tendency of war; but as much as I hate war, I cannot be of the opinion that frequent wars are so corrupting to human nature as long peace
No man is entirely free from weakness and imperfection in this life John Adams
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country one is by the sword, the other is by debt
Defeat appears to me preferable to total inaction John Adams
There is nothing in which mankind has been more unanimous; yet nothing can be inferred from it more than this that the multitude have always been credulous, and the few artful
I will rouse up my mind and fix my attention I will stand collected within myself and think upon what I read and what I see I will strive with all my soul to be something more than persons who have had less advantages than myself John Adams
The whole drama of the world is such a tragedy that I am weary of the spectacle
The smell of the midnight lamp is very unwholesome Never defraud yourself of sleep, nor your walk John Adams in a letter to his son John Quincy
Property monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind
You will ever remember that all the end of study is to make you a good man and a useful citizen This will ever be the sum total of the advice of your affectionate father John Adams in a letter to his son John Quincy
In general, our generals were out generalled
To believe all men honest is folly To believe none is something worse John Adams
Defeat appears to me preferable to total inaction
Tyranny can scarcely be practiced upon a virtuous and wise people John Adams
Our constitution is designed only for moral and religious people It is wholly inadequate for any other
As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love or admiration I should prefer the delights of a garden to the dominion of a world John Adams
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion
Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right John Adams
Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company I mean Hell
