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
Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order. – John Adams
Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. – John Adams
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams
A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man. – John Adams
My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived. – John Adams
While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill – little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago. – John Adams
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. – John Adams
Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power. – 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
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. – John Adams
When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more. – John Adams
Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. – John Adams
Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society. – 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
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak. – John Adams
The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that… and all the glory of it. – John Adams
As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children. – John Adams
