Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Inspirational Samuel Adams quotes will make you look at life differently and help you live a meaningful life.
If you’re searching for greatest quotes by presidents that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of James Madison quotes, powerful John Adams quotes, and famous Alexander Hamilton quotes.
Most Famous Samuel Adams Quotes
It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail Samuel Adams
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved Samuel Adams
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom go home from us in peace We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! Samuel Adams
When people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders Samuel Adams
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 Samuel Adams
How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! Samuel Adams
It does not take a majority to prevail but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men Samuel Adams
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace We ask not your counsels or your arms Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen Samuel Adams
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 Samuel Adams
The absolute rights of Englishmen and all freemen, in or out of civil society, are principally personal security, personal liberty, and private property Samuel Adams
I firmly believe that the benevolent Creator designed the republican Form of Government for Man Samuel Adams
Courage, then, my countrymen, 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 Samuel Adams
For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can they easily be subdued, where Knowledge is diffused and Virtue preserved. On the Contrary when People are universally ignorant and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight, without the Aid of foreign Invaders Samuel Adams
Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness Samuel Adams
The Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms Samuel Adams
Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt Samuel Adams
Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals Samuel Adams
If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced Patriots to prevent its Ruin Samuel Adam
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 Samuel Adams
The first fundamental, positive law of all commonwealths or states is the establishing the legislative power As the first fundamental natural law, also which is to govern even the legislative power itself, is the preservation of the society Samuel Adams
In a state of tranquility, wealth, and luxury, our descendants would forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal which made their ancestors invincible Every art of corruption would be employed to loosen the bond of union which renders our resistance formidable When the spirit of liberty which now animates our hearts and gives success to our arms is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims to tyranny Samuel Adams
The Legislative has no right to absolute, arbitrary power over the lives and fortunes of the people nor can mortals assume a prerogative not only too high for men, but for angels, and therefore reserved for the exercise of the Deity alone Samuel Adams
A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested Samuel Adams
The supreme power cannot justly take from any man any part of his property, without his consent in person or by his representative Samuel Adams
It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue Samuel Adams
All positive and civil laws should conform, as far as possible, to the law of natural reason and equity Samuel Adams
If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them Samuel Adams
It has been observed, that education has a greater influence on manners than human laws can have Samuel Adams
If we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom Samuel Adams
I am fully persuaded that the population of the US living different Climates, of different Education and Manners, and possessed of different Habits & Feelings under one consolidated Government can not long remain free, or indeed remain under any kind of Government but despotism Samuel Adams
A true patriot would keep the attention of his fellow citizens awake to their grievances, and not allow them to rest till the causes of their just complaints are removed Samuel Adams
The Colonists have been branded with the odious names of traitors and rebels only for complaining of their grievances Samuel Adams
The country shall be independent, and we will be satisfied with nothing short of it Samuel Adams
The sum of all is if we would most truly enjoy the gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people then shall we both deserve to enjoy it While, on the other hand, if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, through the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall, in reality, be the most abject slaves Samuel Adams
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader Samuel Adams
We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom of thought and dignity of self direction which He bestowed on them From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come! Samuel Adams
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country Samuel Adams
I thank God that I have lived to see my country independent and free She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if she will. It depends on her virtue Samuel Adams
The utopian schemes of leveling and a community of goods, are as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the crown These ideas are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our government unconstitutional Samuel Adams
Freedom of thought and the right of private judgment, in matters of conscience, driven from every other corner of the earth, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum Samuel Adams
