John Adams Quotes
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I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either.
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Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.
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You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
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I can treat all with decency and civility, and converse with them, when it is necessary, on points of business. But I am never happy in their company.
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Omnium rerum domina, virtus. Virtue is the mistress of all things. Virtue is the master of all things. Therefore a nation that should never do wrong must necessarily govern the world. The might of virtue, the power of virtue, is not a very common topic, not so common as it should be.
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Although neither nation has been brought to admit that they were chargeable with the first infraction, yet no American can forget the carrying off the negroes.
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By my physical constitution I am but an ordinary man … Yet some great events, some cutting expressions, some mean hypocracies, have at times thrown this assemblage of sloth, sleep, and littleness into rage like a lion.
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The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.
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A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.
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Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.
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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.
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There is one Resolution I will not omit. Resolved that no Slaves be imported into any of the thirteen colonies.