"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress. "
— John Adams

"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."
— John Adams

"There are two types of education... One should teach us how to make a living, And the other how to live."
— John Adams

"I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine. (12 May 1780)"
— John Adams

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."
— John Adams

"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it."
— John Adams

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
— John Adams

"Power must never be trusted without a check."
— 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. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, "whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection," and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever."
— 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."
— John Adams

"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 [with your God]. This is enough."
— John Adams

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
— John Adams

"Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom."
— John Adams

"I read my eyes out and can't read half enough...the more one reads the more one sees we have to read."
— John Adams

"Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it."
— John Adams

"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."
— John Adams

"Thanks to God that he gave me stubborness when I know I am right."
— John Adams

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide."
— John Adams

"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."
— John Adams

"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

"All the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arise, not from want of honor or virtue, but from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation."
— John Adams

""And then Franklin smote the ground and up rose George Washington, fully dressed and astride a horse! Then the three of them, Franklin, Washington and the HORSE, proceeded to win the entire revolution single handley!""
— John Adams

"They shall not be expected to acknowledge us until we have acknowledged ourselves."
— John Adams (John Adams)

"Human passions unbridled by morality and religion...would break the stronges cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net."
— John Adams

"Always stand on principle....even if you stand alone.
"
— John Adams

"The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people's hands, that is, to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and in the courts of justice."
— John Adams

"We cannot insure success, but we can deserve it."
— John Adams

"You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket"
— John Adams

"The only think most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting."
— John Adams

"But all provisions that He (God) has made for the gratification of our senses…are much inferior to the provision, the wonderful provision that He has made for the gratification of our nobler powers of intelligence and reason. He has given us reason to find out the truth, and the real design and true end of our existence."
— John Adams

"To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do."
— John Adams

"Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates in all future periods of this commonwealth to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them, especially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings, sincerity, good humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments among the people. "
— John Adams (Constitutional Documents of the United States of America)

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."
— John Adams

"“But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?”"
— John Adams

"I never saw the face of Cobbett...I should not know him if I met him in my porridge dish."
— John Adams

"I wish I could lay down beside her and die too."
— John Adams

"The whole drama of the world is such tragedy that I am weary of the spectacle."
— John Adams

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."
— John Adams

"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

"I am determined to control events, not be controlled by them."
— John Adams

"When writing the constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, John Adams wrote:
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

"The true source of our sufferings has been our timidity.
"
— John Adams (The Portable John Adams)

"The Form of Government, which you admire, when its Principles are pure is admirable, indeed, it is productive of every Thing, which is great and excellent among Men. But its Principles are as easily destroyed, as human Nature is corrupted. Such a Government is only to be supported by pure Religion or Austere Morals. Public Virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private virtue....Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company:...I mean Hell."
— John Adams

"Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."
— John Adams

"I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate."
— John Adams

"The happiness of society is the end of government."
— John Adams

"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."
— John Adams

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
— John Adams

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."
— John Adams

""Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.""
— John Adams