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An Honest, Sensible, Humane Man, . . . Laboring To Do Good Rather Than Be Rich, To Be Useful Rather Than Make A Show, Living In Modest Simplicity . . . Is Really The Most Respectable Man In Society, [and] Makes Himself And All About Him Most Happy.

-John Adams

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An Honest, Sensible, Humane

John Adams

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An Honest, Sensible, Humane Man, . . . Laboring To Do Good Rather Than Be Rich, To Be Useful Rather Than Make A Show, Living In Modest Simplicity . . . Is Really The Most Respectable Man In Society, [and] Makes Himself And All About Him Most Happy.

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Government Is Instituted For The Common Good; For The Protection, Safety, Prosperity, And Happiness Of The People; And Not For Profit, Honor, Or Private Interest Of Any One Man, Family, Or Class Of Men; Therefore, The People Alone Have An Incontestable, Unalienable, And Indefeasible Right To Institute Government; And To Reform, Alter, Or Totally Change The Same, When Their Protection, Safety, Prosperity, And Happiness Require It.

Several Country Towns, Within My Observation, Have At Least A Dozen Taverns. Here The Time, The Money, The Health And The Modesty, Of Most That Are Young And Of Many Old, Are Wasted. Here Diseases, Vicious Habits, Bastards And Legislators Are Frequently Spawned.

The Christian Religion Is, Above All The Religions That Ever Prevailed Or Existed In Ancient Or Modern Times, The Religion Of Wisdom, Virtue, Equity And Humanity.

It Will Be Celebrated... With Pomp And Parade... Bonfires And Illuminations From One End Of This Continent To The Other.

It Has Ever Been My Hobby-horse To See Rising In America An Empire Of Liberty, And A Prospect Of Two Or Three Hundred Millions Of Freemen, Without One Noble Or One King Among Them. You Say It Is Impossible. If I Should Agree With You In This, I Would Still Say, Let Us Try The Experiment, And Preserve Our Equality As Long As We Can. A Better System Of Education For The Common People Might Preserve Them Long From Such Artificial Inequalities As Are Prejudicial To Society, By Confounding The Natural Distinctions Of Right And Wrong, Virtue And Vice.

Farther I Could Find It In My Heart To Wish That You Had Been At The Head Of A Hundred Thousand Israelites . . . & Marching With Them Into Judea & Making A Conquest Of That Country & Restoring Your Nation To The Dominion Of It. For I Really Wish The Jews Again In Judea An Independent Nation.

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.

Let Justice Be Done Though The Heavens Should Fall.

I Would Define Liberty To Be A Power To Do As We Would Be Done By. The Definition Of Liberty To Be The Power Of Doing Whatever The Law Permits, Meaning The Civil Laws, Does Not Seem Satisfactory.

The Good Of The Governed Is The End, And Rewards And Punishments Are The Means, Of All Government. The Government Of The Supreme And All-perfect Mind, Over All His Intellectual Creation, Is By Proportioning Rewards To Piety And Virtue, And Punishments To Disobedience And Vice. ... The Joys Of Heaven Are Prepared, And The Horrors Of Hell In A Future State, To Render The Moral Government Of The Universe Perfect And Complete. Human Government Is More Or Less Perfect, As It Approaches Nearer Or Diverges Further From An Imitation Of This Perfect Plan Of Divine And Moral Government.

Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude.

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.

I Am Determined To Control Events, Not Be Controlled By Them.

Let Every Sluice Of Knowledge Be Opened And Set A-flowing.

A Single Assembly Is Apt To Grow Ambitious, And After A Time Will Not Hesitate To Vote Itself Perpetual. This Was One Fault Of The Long Parliament; But More Remarkably Of Holland, Whose Assembly First Voted Themselves From Annual To Septennial, Then For Life, And After A Course Of Years, That All Vacancies Happening By Death Or Otherwise, Should Be Filled By Themselves, Without Any Application To Constituents At All.

Let Us Hear The Dangers Of Thralldom To Our Consciences From Ignorance, Extreme Poverty, And Dependence; In Short, From Civil And Political Slavery. Let Us See Delineated Before Us The True Map Of Man. Let Us Hear The Dignity Of His Nature, And The Noble Rank He Holds Among The Works Of God-that Consenting To Slavery Is A Sacrilegious Breach Of Trust, As Offensive In The Sight Of God As It Is Derogatory From Our Own Honor Or Interest Or Happiness-and That God Almighty Has Promulgated From Heaven Liberty, Peace, And Goodwill To Man!

I Was Very Strenuous For Retaining And Insisting On It [law Of Nature], As A Resource To Which We Might Be Driven By Parliament Much Sooner Than We Were Aware.

It Is Weakness Rather Than Wickedness Which Renders Men Unfit To Be Trusted With Unlimited Power.

I Do Not Like The Reappearance Of The Jesuits.... Shall We Not Have Regular Swarms Of Them Here, In As Many Disguises As Only A King Of The Gipsies Can Assume, Dressed As Printers, Publishers, Writers And Schoolmasters? If Ever There Was A Body Of Men Who Merited Damnation On Earth And In Hell, It Is This Society Of Loyola's. Nevertheless, We Are Compelled By Our System Of Religious Toleration To Offer Them An Asylum.

The Universal Object And Idol Of Men Of Letters Is Reputation.

We Electors Have An Important Constitutional Power Placed In Our Hands: We Have A Check Upon Two Branches Of The Legislature, As Each Branch Has Upon The Other Two; The Power I Mean Of Electing At Stated Periods, One Branch, Which Branch Has The Power Of Electing Another. It Becomes Necessary To Every Subject Then, To Be In Some Degree A Statesman: And To Examine And Judge For Himself Of The Tendencies Of Political Principles And Measures.

All Sober Inquirers After Truth, Ancient And Modern, Pagan And Christian, Have Declared That The Happiness Of Man, As Well As His Dignity, Consists In Virtue.

Whether They Be Old Or Young, Rich Or Poor, High Or Low, Wise Or Foolish, Ignorant Or Learned, Every Individual Is Seen To Be Strongly Actuated By A Desire To Be Seen, Heard, Talked Of, Approved And Respected... A Passion For Distinction.

Remember, Democracy Never Lasts Long. It Soon Wastes, Exhausts, And Murders Itself. There Never Was A Democracy Yet That Did Not Commit Suicide.

Were I To Define The British Constitution, Therefore, I Should Say, It Is A Limited Monarchy, Or A Mixture Of The Three Forms Of Government Commonly Known In The Schools, Reserving As Much Of The Monarchical Splendor, The Aristocratical Independency, And The Democratical Freedom, As Are Necessary That Each Of These Powers May Have A Control, Both In Legislation And Execution, Over The Other Two, For The Preservation Of The Subject's Liberty.

Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

Vanity, I Am Sensible, Is My Cardinal Vice And Cardinal Folly; And I Am In Continual Danger, When In Company, Of Being Led An Ignis Fatuus Chase By It.

I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessing On This House, And On All That Shall Hereafter Inhabit It. May None But Honest And Wise Men Ever Rule Under This Roof!

A Question Arises Whether All The Powers Of Government, Legislative, Executive, And Judicial, Shall Be Left In This Body? I Think A People Cannot Be Long Free, Nor Ever Happy, Whose Government Is In One Assembly.

Government Is Nothing More Than The Combined Force Of Society, Or The United Power Of The Multitude, For The Peace, Order, Safety, Good And Happiness Of The People.

I Almost Shudder At The Thought Of Alluding To The Most Fatal Example Of The Abuses Of Grief Which The History Of Mankind Has Preserved - The Cross. Consider What Calamities That Engine Of Grief Has Produced!

Mankind Will In Time Discover That Unbridled Majorities Are As Tyrannical And Cruel As Unlimited Despots.

Libertarian Party

Your Letters Concerning Miss N. Have Given Me As Much Concern As They Ought-not Knowing The Character Nor What To Advise, But Feeling All A Fathers Tenderness, Longing To Be At Home That I Might Enquire And Consider And Take The Care I Ought.

Property Must Be Secured, Or Liberty Cannot Exist.

In Vain Are Schools, Academies, And Universities Instituted, If Loose Principles And Licentious Habits Are Impressed Upon Children In Their Earliest Years . . . . The Vices And Examples Of The Parents Cannot Be Concealed From The Children. How Is It Possible That Children Can Have Any Just Sense Of The Sacred Obligations Of Morality Or Religion If, From Their Earliest Infancy, They Learn Their Mothers Live In Habitual Infidelity To Their Fathers, And Their Fathers In As Constant Infidelity To Their Mothers.

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.

Let Us Tenderly And Kindly Cherish, Therefore, The Means Of Knowledge. Let Us Dare To Read, Think, Speak, And Write.

The Hebrews Have Done More To Civilize Men Than Any Other Nation. If I Were An Atheist, And Believed Blind Eternal Fate, I Should Still Believe That Fate Had Ordained The Jews To Be The Most Essential Instrument For Civilizing The Nations.

Children Should Be Educated And Instructed In The Principles Of Freedom. Aristotle Speaks Plainly To This Purpose, Saying, 'that The Institution Of Youth Should Be Accommodated To That Form Of Government Under Which They Live; Forasmuch As It Makes Exceedingly For The Preservation Of The Present Government, Whatsoever It Be.

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.

It Already Appears, That There Must Be In Every Society Of Men Superiors And Inferiors, Because God Has Laid In The Constitution And Course Of Nature The Foundations Of The Distinction.

[you Have Rights] Antecedent To All Earthly Governments: Rights, That Cannot Be Repealed Or Restrained By Human Laws; Rights, Derived From The Great Legislator Of The Universe.

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.

Thus, Experience Has Ever Shown, That Education, As Well As Religion, Aristocracy, As Well As Democracy And Monarchy, Are, Singly, Totally Inadequate To The Business Of Restraining The Passions Of Men, Of Preserving A Steady Government, And Protecting The Lives, Liberties, And Properties Of The People . . . . Religion, Superstition, Oaths, Education, Laws, All Give Way Before Passions, Interest, And Power, Which Can Be Resisted Only By Passions, Interest, And Power.

By The Former Of These (canon Law), The Most Refined, Sublime, Extensive, And Astonishing Constitution Of Policy That Ever Was Conceived By The Mind Of Man Was Framed By The Romish Clergy For The Aggrandizement Of Their Own Order.

I Have Examined All Religions, And The Result Is That The Bible Is The Best Book In The World.

There Is Nothing I Dread So Much As The Division Of The Republic Into Two Great Parties, Each Arranged Under Its Leader, And Concerting Measures In Opposition To Each Other. This, In My Humble Apprehension, Is To Be Dreaded As The Greatest Political Evil Under Our Constitution.

I Am Quite Content To Come Home And Go To Farming, Be A Select Man, And Owe No Man Any Thing But Good Will. There I Can Get A Little Health And Teach My Boys To Be Lawyers.

Ambition Is The Subtlest Beast Of The Intellectual And Moral Field. It Is Wonderfully Adroit In Concealing Itself From Its Owner.

Property Must Be Secured Or Liberty Cannot Exist. But If Unlimited Or Unbalanced Power Of Disposing Property, Be Put Into The Hands Of Those Who Have No Property, France Will Find, As We Have Found, The Lamb Committed To The Custody Of The World. In Such A Case, All The Pathetic Exhortations And Addresses Of The National Assembly To The People, To Respect Property, Will Be Regarded No More Than The Warbles Of The Songsters Of The Forest.

Where Annual Elections End, There Slavery Begins ... Humility, Patience, And Moderation, Without Which Every Man In Power Becomes A Ravenous Beast Of Prey.

A Native Of America Who Cannot Read Or Write Is . . . As Rare As A Comet Or An Earthquake.

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.

The Form Of Government Which Communicates Ease, Comfort, Security, Or, In One Word, Happiness, To The Greatest Number Of Persons, And In The Greatest Degree, Is The Best.

The Destiny Of America Is To Carry The Gospel Of Jesus Christ To All Men Everywhere.

The Government Of The United States Of America Has In Itself No Character Of Enmity Against The Laws, Religion Or Tranquility Of Muslims.

I Have Long Been Settled In My Own Opinion That Neither Philosophy, Nor Religion, Nor Morality, Nor Wisdom, Nor Interest, Will Ever Govern Nations Or Parties, Against Their Vanity, Their Pride, Their Resentment, Or Revenge, Or Their Avarice, Or Ambition. Nothing But Force And Power And Strength Can Restrain Them.

I Have Examined All Religions, As Well As My Narrow Sphere, My Straightened Means, And My Busy Life, Would Allow; And The Result Is That The Bible Is The Best Book In The World. It Contains More Philosophy Than All The Libraries I Have Seen.

Admit That The Press Transferred The Pontificate Of Rome To Henry Viii-admit That The Press Demolished In Some Sort The Feudal System, And Set The Serfs And Villains Free; Admit That The Press Demolished The Monasteries, Nunneries, And Religious Houses; Into Whose Hands Did All These Alienated Baronies, Monasteries, And Religious Houses And Lands Fall? Into The Hands Of The Democracy? Into The Hands Of Serfs And Villains? Serfs And Villains Were The Only Real Democracy In Those Time. No. They Fell Into The Hands Of Other Aristocrats. . . .

. . . Thirteen Governments [of The Original States] Thus Founded On The Natural Authority Of The People Alone, Without A Pretence Of Miracle Or Mystery, And Which Are Destined To Spread Over The Northern Part Of That Whole Quarter Of The Globe, Are A Great Point Gained In Favor Of The Rights Of Mankind.

Conclude Not From All This That I Have Renounced The Christian Religion. . . . Far From It. I See In Every Page Something To Recommend Christianity In Its Purity, And Something To Discredit Its Corruptions. . . . The Ten Commandments And The Sermon On The Mount Contain My Religion.

Always Stand On Principle Even If You Stand Alone.

Property Is Surely A Right Of Mankind As Real As Liberty. Perhaps, At First, Prejudice, Habit, Shame Or Fear, Principle Or Religion, Would Restrain The Poor From Attacking The Rich, And The Idle From Usurping On The Industrious; But The Time Would Not Be Long Before Courage And Enterprise Would Come, And Pretexts Be Invented By Degrees, To Countenance The Majority In Dividing All The Property Among Them, Or At Least, In Sharing It Equally With Its Present Possessors.

The Balance Of Power In A Society Accompanies The Balance Of Property In Land.

We Should Be Unfaithful To Ourselves If We Should Ever Lose Sight Of The Danger To Our Liberties If Anything Partial Or Extraneous Should Infect The Purity Of Our Free, Fair, Virtuous, And Independent Elections. If An Election Is To Be Determined By A Majority Of A Single Vote, And That Can Be Procured By A Party Through Artifice Or Corruption, The Government May Be The Choice Of A Party For Its Own Ends, Not Of The Nation For The National Good.

Tis Impossible To Judge With Much Præcision Of The True Motives And Qualities Of Human Actions, Or Of The Propriety Of Rules Contrived To Govern Them, Without Considering With Like Attention, All The Passions, Appetites, Affections In Nature From Which They Flow. An Intimate Knowledge Therefore Of The Intellectual And Moral World Is The Sole Foundation On Which A Stable Structure Of Knowledge Can Be Erected.

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.

Public Business Must Always Be Done By Somebody. It Will Be Done By Somebody Or Other. If Wise Man Decline, Others Will Not; If Honest Man Refuse It, Others Will Not.

If National Pride Is Ever Justifiable Or Excusable It Is When It Springs, Not From Power Or Riches, Grandeur Or Glory, But From Conviction Of National Innocence, Information And Benevolence.

Borrowed Eloquence, If It Contains As Good Stuff, Is As Good As Own Eloquence

It Is The Duty Of All Men In Society, Publicly, And At Stated Seasons, To Worship The Supreme Being, The Great Creator And Preserver Of The Universe. And No Subject Shall Be Hurt, Molested, Or Restrained, In His Person, Liberty, Or Estate, For Worshipping God In The Manner Most Agreeable To The Dictates Of His Own Conscience; Or For His Religious Profession Or Sentiments; Provided He Doth Not Disturb The Public Peace, Or Obstruct Others In Their Religious Worship.

Will You Tell Me How To Prevent Riches From Producing Luxury? Will You Tell Me How To Prevent Luxury From Producing Effeminacy, Intoxication, Extravagance, Vice And Folly?

If It Be The Pleasure Of Heaven That My Country Shall Require The Poor Offering Of My Life, The Victim Shall Be Ready, At The Appointed Hour Of Sacrifice, Come When That Hour May. But While I Do Live, Let Me Have A Country, And That A Free Country!

I Would Quarrel With Both Parties, And With Every Individual Of Each, Before I Would Subjugate My Understanding, Or Prostitute My Tongue Or Pen To Either.

The Study And Practice Of Law ... Does Not Dissolve The Obligations Of Morality Or Of Religion.

The Consequences Arising From The Continual Accumulation Of Public Debts In Other Countries Ought To Admonish Us To Prevent Their Growth In Our Own.

There Is No Good Government But What Is Republican. That The Only Valuable Part Of The British Constitution Is So; For The True Idea Of A Republic Is "an Empire Of Laws, And Not Of Men." That, As A Republic Is The Best Of Governments, So That Particular Arrangement Of The Powers Of Society, Or In Other Words, That Form Of Government Which Is Best Contrived To Secure An Impartial And Exact Execution Of The Law, Is The Best Of Republics.

Abuse Of Words Has Been The Great Instrument Of Sophistry And Chicanery, Of Party, Faction, And Division Of Society.

Unnecessary War

If We Do Not Lay Out Ourselves In The Service Of Mankind Whom Should We Serve?

No Truth Is More Clearly Taught In The Volume Of Inspiration, Nor Any More Fully Demonstrated By The Experience Of All Ages, Than That A Deep Sense And A Due Acknowledgment Of The Governing Providence Of A Supreme Being And The Accountableness Of Men To Him As The Searcher Of Hearts And Righteous Distributor Of Rewards And Punishments Are Conducive Equally To The Happiness And Rectitude Of Individuals And To The Well Being Of Communities.

Pray How Does Your Asparagus Perform?

Power Always Sincerely, Conscientiously, De Très Bon Foi, Believes Itself Right. Power Always Thinks It Has A Great Soul And Vast Views, Beyond The Comprehension Of The Weak.

The People "have A Right, An Indisputable, Unalienable, Indefeasible, Divine Right To That Most Dreaded And Envied Kind Of Knowledge- I Mean Of The Character And Conduct Of Their Rulers."

But Before Any Great Things Are Accomplished, A Memorable Change Must Be Made In The System Of Education And Knowledge Must Become So General As To Raise The Lower Ranks Of Society Nearer To The Higher. The Education Of A Nation, Instead Of Being Confined To A Few Schools & Universities, For The Instruction Of The Few, Must Become The National Care And Expence, For The Information Of The Many.

There Is Something Very Unnatural And Odious In A Government A Thousand Leagues Off. A Whole Government Of Our Own Choice, Managed By Persons Whom We Love, Revere, And Can Confide In, Has Charms In It For Which Men Will Fight.

The Human Understanding Is A Revelation From Its Maker, Which Can Never Be Disputed Or Doubted. There Can Be No Scepticism, Pyrrhonism, Or Incredulity Or Infidelity Here. No Prophecies, No Miracles Are Necessary To Prove This Celestical Communication. This Revelation Has Made It Certain That Two And One Make Three, And That One Is Not Three Nor Can Three Be One. We Can Never Be So Certain Of Any Prophecy, Or The Fulfilment Of Any Prophecy, Or Of Any Miracle, Or The Design Of Any Miracle, As We Are From The Revelation Of Nature, That Is, Nature's God, That Two And Two Are Equal To Four.

The Dons, The Bashaws, The Grandees, The Patricians, The Sachems, The Nabobs, Call Them By What Names You Please, Sigh And Groan And Fret, And Sometimes Stamp And Foam And Curse, But All In Vain. The Decree Is Gone Forth, And It Cannot Be Recalled, That A More Equal Liberty Than Has Prevailed In Other Parts Of The Earth Must Be Established In America.

You May Have The Bishop Pair But I Have The Ultimate Advantage; I Am The Better Player!

The Whole Drama Of The World Is Such Tragedy That I Am Weary Of The Spectacle.

Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without General Knowledge Among The People.

There Are Only Two Creatures Of Value On The Face Of The Earth: Those With The Commitment, And Those Who Require The Commitment Of Others.

When Public Virtue Is Gone, When The National Spirit Is Fled The Republic Is Lost In Essence, Though It May Still Exist In Form

The Public Negotiations And Secret Intrigues Of The English (jews) And The French (jews) Have Been Employed For Centuries In Every Court And Country In Europe. Look Back To The History Of Spain, Holland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Italy And Turkey For The Last Hundred Years...all The Power Of Europe Will Be Continually Maneuvering With Us To Work Us Into The Real Or Imaginary Balance Of Power.

Property Monopolized Or In The Possession Of A Few Is A Curse To Mankind.

We Should Begin By Setting Conscience Free. When All Men Of All Religions Shall Enjoy Equal Liberty, Property, And An Equal Chance For Honors And Power We May Expect That Improvements Will Be Made In The Human Character And The State Of Society.

Politics Are A Labyrinth Without A Clue.

A Pen Is Certainly An Excellent Instrument To Fix A Man's Attention And To Inflame His Ambition.

The Ten Commandments And The Sermon On The Mount Contain My Religion.

Founding Fathers Religion

We Cannot Insure Success, But We Can Deserve It.

Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude. I Am Therefore Utterly Averse To The Admission Of Slavery Into The Missouri Territory, And Heartily Wish That Every Constitutional Measure May Be Adopted For The Preservation Of It.

Twenty Times, In The Course Of My Late Reading, Have I Been On The Point Of Breaking Out, 'this Would Be The Best Of All Possible Worlds, If There Were No Religion In It!' But In This Exclamation, I Should Have Been As Fanatical As Bryant Or Cleverly. Without Religion, This World Would Be Something Not Fit To Be Mentioned In Public Company-i Mean Hell.

Tacitus Appears To Have Been As Great An Enthusiast As Petrarch For The Revival Of The Republic And Universal Empire. He Has Exerted The Vengeance Of History Upon The Emperors, But Has Veiled The Conspiracies Against Them, And The Incorrigible Corruption Of The People Which Probably Provoked Their Most Atrocious Cruelties. Tyranny Can Scarcely Be Practised Upon A Virtuous And Wise People.

Let The Human Mind Loose. It Must Be Loose. It Will Be Loose. Superstition And Dogmatism Cannot Confine It.

Thomas Jefferson Survives.

There Never Was Yet A People Who Must Not Have Somebody Or Something To Represent The Dignity Of The State.

As Unbalanced Parties Of Every Description Can Never Tolerate A Free Inquiry Of Any Kind, When Employed Against Themselves, The License, And Even The Most Temperate Freedom Of The Press, Soon Excite Resentment And Revenge.

[l]iberty 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.

Human Nature Itself Is Evermore An Advocate For Liberty. There Is Also In Human Nature A Resentment Of Injury, And Indignation Against Wrong. A Love Of Truth And A Veneration Of Virtue. These Amiable Passions, Are The "latent Spark" . . . If The People Are Capable Of Understanding, Seeing And Feeling The Differences Between True And False, Right And Wrong, Virtue And Vice, To What Better Principle Can The Friends Of Mankind Apply Than To The Sense Of This Difference?

What Is To Become Of An Independent Statesman, One Who Will Bow The Knee To No Idol, Who Will Worship Nothing As A Divinity But Truth, Virtue, And His Country? I Will Tell You; He Will Be Regarded More By Posterity Than Those Who Worship Hounds And Horses; And Although He Will Not Make His Own Fortune, He Will Make The Fortune Of His Country.

I Must Study Politics And War That My Sons May Have Liberty To Study Mathematics And Philosophy.

A Lawyer Once Told A Jury That The Person His Client Stood Accused Of Having Killed Was About To Walk Through The Courtroom Door. When The Jurors Looked Startled, The Lawyer Asserted That If Those Jurors Had Wondered, Even For One Second That The Victim Might Appear, That Belief Constituted Enough Reasonable Doubt For Them To Find His Client Innocent.

The Church Of Rome Has Made It An Article Of Faith That No Man Can Be Saved Out Of Their Church, And All Other Religious Sects Approach This Dreadful Opinion In Proportion To Their Ignorance, And The Influence Of Ignorant Or Wicked Priests.

Objects Of The Most Stupendous Magnitude, And Measure In Which The Lives And Liberties Of Millions Yet Unborn Are Intimately Interested, Are Now Before Us. We Are In The Very Midst Of A Revolution The Most Complete, Unexpected And Remarkable Of Any In The History Of Nations.

Facts Are Stubborn Things; And Whatever May Be Our Wishes, Our Inclinations, Or The Dictates Of Our Passions, They Cannot Alter The State Of Facts And Evidence: Nor Is The Law Less Stable Than The Fact.

Liberty Can No More Exist Without Virtue And Independence Than The Body Can Live And Move Without A Soul.

The World Grows More Enlightened. Knowledge Is More Equally Diffused.

Our Whole System Of Banks Is A Violation Of Every Honest Principle Of Banks. There Is No Honest Bank But A Bank Of Deposit. A Bank That Issues Paper At Interest Is A Pickpocket Or A Robber. But The Delusion Will Have Its Course. ... An Aristocracy Is Growing Out Of Them That Will Be As Fatal As The Feudal Barons If Unchecked In Time.

Have You Considered That System Of Holy Lies And Pious Frauds That Has Raged And Triumphed For 1,500 Years?

Founding Fathers Religion

Tom, Had You And I Been 40 Days With Moses, And Beheld The Great God, And Even If God Himself Had Tried To Tell Us That Three Was One ... And One Equals Three, You And I Would Never Have Believed It. We Would Never Fall Victims To Such Lies.

Power Must Never Be Trusted Without A Check.

My History Of The Jesuits Is In Four Volumes.... This Society Has Been A Greater Calamity To Mankind Than The French Revolution, Or Napoleon's Despotism Or Ideology. It Has Obstructed Progress Of Reformation And The Improvement Of The Human Mind In Society Much Longer And More Fatally.

One Useless Man Is A Shame, Two Is A Law Firm, And Three Is A Congress.

Shall We Have Recourse To The Art Of Printing? But This Has Not Destroyed Property Or Aristocracy Or Corporations Or Paper Wealth In England Or America, Or Diminished The Influence Of Either; On The Contrary, It Has Multiplied Aristocracy And Diminished Democracy.

When You See A Good Move, Sit On Your Hands And Find A Better One.

The Idea Of Infidelity [a Disbelief In The Inspiration Of The Scriptures Or The Divine Origin Of Christianity] Cannot Be Treated With Too Much Resentment Or Too Much Horror. The Man Who Can Think Of It With Patience Is A Traitor In His Heart And Ought To Be Execrated [denounced] As One Who Adds The Deepest Hypocrisy To The Blackest Treason.

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.

You Will Never Be Alone With A Poet In Your Pocket.

The General Principles On Which The Fathers Achieved Independence Were The General Principles Of Christianity. I Will Avow That I Then Believed, And Now Believe, That Those General Principles Of Christianity Are As Eternal And Immutable As The Existence And Attributes Of God.

The Whole People Must Take Upon Themselves The Education Of The Whole People, And Must Be Willing To Bear The Expenses Of It. There Should Not Be A District Of One Mile Square, Without A School In It, Not Founded By A Charitable Individual, But Maintained At The Public Expense Of The People Themselves.

Without Wishing To Damp The Ardor Of Curiosity Or Influence The Freedom Of Inquiry, I Will Hazard A Prediction That, After The Most Industrious And Impartial Researchers, The Longest Liver Of You All Will Find No Principles, Institutions Or Systems Of Education More Fit In General To Be Transmitted To Your Posterity Than Those You Have Received From Your Ancestors.

Children Should Be Educated And Instructed In The Principles Of Freedom.

One Sailor Will Do Us More Good Than Two Soldiers.

It May Be The Will Of Heaven That America Shall Suffer Calamities Still More Wasting, And Distresses Yet More Dreadful. If This Is To Be The Case, It Will Have The Good Effect At Least. It Will Inspire Us With Many Virtues, Which We Have Not, And Correct Many Errors, Follies And Vices. But I Must Submit All My Hopes And Fears To An Overruling Providence, In Which, Unfashionable As The Faith May Be, I Firmly Believe.

God Is An Essence That We Know Nothing Of. Until This Awful Blasphemy Is Got Rid Of, There Never Will Be Any Liberal Science In The World.

The Rich, The Well-born, And The Able, Acquire An Influence Among The People That Will Soon Be Too Much For Simple Honesty And Plain Sense, In A House Of Representatives. The Most Illustrious Of Them Must, Therefore, Be Separated From The Mass, And Placed By Themselves In A Senate; This Is, To All Honest And Useful Intents, An Ostracism.

All Great Changes Are Irksome To The Human Mind, Especially Those Which Are Attended With Great Dangers And Uncertain Effects.

We Hold That Each Man Is The Best Judge Of His Own Interest.

I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessings On This House And On All That Shall Hereafter Inhabit It. May None But Honest And Wise Men Ever Rule Under This Roof.

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.

A Taste For Literature And A Turn For Business, United In The Same Person, Never Fails To Make A Great Man.

[a] Republic . . . [is] A Government, In Which The Property Of The Public, Or People, And Of Every One Of Them Was Secure And Protected By Law . . . Implies Liberty; Because Property Cannot Be Secured Unless The Man Be At Liberty To Acquire, Use Or Part With It, At His Discretion, And Unless He Have His Personal Liberty Of Life And Limb, Motion And Rest, For That Purpose.

Swim Or Sink, Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish With My Country Was My Unalterable Determination.

I Shall Have Liberty To Think For Myself Without Molesting Others Or Being Molested Myself.

Positive Atheism

Property Is Surely A Right Of Mankind As Real As Liberty.

Everything In Life Should Be Done With Reflection.

Neither My Father Or Mother, Grandfather Or Grandmother, Great Grandfather Or Great Grandmother, Nor Any Other Relation That I Know Of, Or Care A Farthing For, Has Been In England These One Hundred And Fifty Years; So That You See I Have Not One Drop Of Blood In My Veins But What Is American.

Power In Any Form . . . When Directed Only By Human Wisdom And Benevolence Is Dangerous.

Elections To Office, Which Are The Great Objects Of Ambition, I Look At With Terror!

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.

Every Problem Is An Opportunity In Disguise.

The United States Of America Have Exhibited, Perhaps, The First Example Of Governments Erected On The Simple Principles Of Nature. . . . [in] The Formation Of The American Governments . . . It Will Never Be Pretended That Any Persons Employed In That Service Had Interviews With The Gods, Or Were In Any Degree Under The Influence Of Heaven. . . . These Governments Were Contrived Merely By The Use Of Reason And The Senses.

I Shall Have The Liberty To Think For Myself.

I Do Not Like The Reappearance Of The Jesuits... Nevertheless, We Are Compelled By Our System Of Religious Toleration To Offer Them An Asylum.

The Furnace Of Affliction Produces Refinement In States As Well As Individuals. And The New Governments We Are Assuming In Every Part Will Require A Purification From Our Vices, And An Augmentation Of Our Virtues, Or There Will Be No Blessings.

Griefs Upon Griefs! Disappointments Upon Disappointments. What Then? This Is A Gay, Merry World Notwithstanding.

The Consequences Of These Institutions (the Towns Or Districts, The Congregations, The Schools,and The Militia.) Have Been, That The Inhabitants, Having Acquired From Their Infancy The Habit Of Discussing, Of Deliberating, And Of Judging Of Public Affairs, It Was In These Assemblies Of Towns Or Districts That The Sentiments Of The People Were Formed In The First Place, And Their Resolutions Were Taken From The Beginning To The End Of The Disputes And The War With Great Britain.

Remember, Democracy Never Lasts Long. It Soon Wastes, Exhausts, And Murders Itself. There Never Was A Democracy Yet That Did Not Commit Suicide. It Is In Vain To Say That Democracy Is Less Vain, Less Proud, Less Selfish, Less Ambitious, Or Less Avaricious Than Aristocracy Or Monarchy. It Is Not True, In Fact, And Nowhere Appears In History. Those Passions Are The Same In All Men, Under All Forms Of Simple Government, And When Unchecked, Produce The Same Effects Of Fraud, Violence, And Cruelty.

As The Government Of The United States Is Not, In Any Sense, Founded On The Christian Religion; As It Has In Itself No Character Of Enmity Against The Laws, Religion Or Tranquility Of Musselmen [muslims] ... It Is Declared ... That No Pretext Arising From Religious Opinion Shall Ever Product An Interruption Of The Harmony Existing Between The Two Countries.... The United States Is Not A Christian Nation Any More Than It Is A Jewish Or A Mohammedan Nation.

Virtue Is Not Always Amiable.

The Declaration Of Independence Laid The Cornerstone Of Human Government Upon The First Precepts Of Christianity.

What A Pity It Is That Our Congress Had Not Known This Discovery, And That Alexander Hamilton’s Projects Of Raising An Army Of Fifty Thousand Men, Ten Thousand Of Them To Be Cavalry And His Projects Of Sedition Laws And Alien Laws And Of New Taxes To Support His Army, All Arose From A Superabundance Of Secretions Which He Could Not Find Whores Enough To Draw Off! And That The Same Vapours Produced His Lyes And Slanders By Which He Totally Destroyed His Party Forever And Finally Lost His Life In The Field Of Honor.

Men Must Be Ready, They Must Pride Themselves And Be Happy To Sacrifice Their Private Pleasures, Passions And Interests, Nay, Their Private Friendships And Dearest Connections, When They Stand In Competition With The Rights Of Society.

It Is Not Only The Juror's Right, But His Duty To Find The Verdict According To His Own Best Understanding, Judgment And Conscience, Though In Direct Opposition To The Instruction Of The Court.

If My Superiors Shall Permit Me To Come Home, I Hope It Will Be Soon; If They Mean I Should Stay Abroad, I Am Not Able To Say What I Shall Do, Until I Know In What Capacity. One Thing Is Certain, That I Will Not Live Long Without My Family.

I Never Engaged In Public Affairs For My Own Interest, Pleasure, Envy, Jealousy, Avarice Or Ambition, Or Even The Desire Of Fame

July 4th Ought To Be Commemorated As The Day Of Deliverance By Solemn Acts Of Devotion.

Declaration Of Independence

The Right Of A Nation To Kill A Tyrant, In Cases Of Necessity, Can No More Be Doubted, Than To Hang A Robber, Or Kill A Flea. But Killing One Tyrant Only Makes Way For Worse, Unless The People Have Sense, Spirit And Honesty Enough To Establish And Support A Constitution Guarded At All Points Against The Tyranny Of The One, The Few, And The Many.

The National Defense Is One Of The Cardinal Duties Of A Statesman.

Our Constitution Was Made Only For A Moral And Religious People. It Is Wholly Inadequate To The Government Of Any Other.

Grief Drives Men Into Habits Of Serious Reflection, Sharpens The Understanding, And Softens The Heart

When I Was Young, And Addicted To Reading, I Had Heard About Dancing On The Points Of Metaphysical Needles; But, By Mixing In The World, I Found The Points Of Political Needles Finer And Sharper Than The Metaphysical Ones.

Mr. Adams, Describing A Conversation With Jonathan Sewall In 1774, Says: "i Answered That The Die Was Now Cast; I Had Passed The Rubicon. Swim Or Sink, Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish With My Country Was My Unalterable Determination."

Power Always Thinks... That It Is Doing God's Service When It Is Violating All His Laws.

Elections, Especially Of Representatives And Counselors, Should Be Annual, There Not Being In The Whole Circle Of The Sciences A Maxim More Infallible Than This, "where Annual Elections End, There Slavery Begins." These Great Men ... Should Be (chosen) Once A Year-like Bubbles On The Sea Of Matter Bourne, They Rise, They Break, And To The Sea Return. This Will Teach Them The Great Political Virtues Of Humility, Patience, And Moderation, Without Which Every Man In Power Becomes A Ravenous Beast Of Prey.

When We Say God Is A Spirit, We Know What We Mean, As Well As We Do When We Say That The Pyramids Of Egypt Are Matter. Let Us Be Content, Therefore, To Believe Him To Be A Spirit, That Is, An Essence That We Know Nothing Of, In Which Originally And Necessarily Reside All Energy, All Power, All Capacity, All Activity, All Wisdom, All Goodness.

Without Religion This World Would Be Something Not Fit To Be Mentioned In Polite Company, I Mean Hell.

My Country Has Contrived For Me The Most Insignificant Office That Ever The Invention Of Man Contrived Or His Imagination Conceived.

I Desire No Other Inscription Over My Gravestone Than: 'here Lies John Adams, Who Took Upon Himself The Responsibility Of Peace With France In The Year 1800'.

When Philosophic Reason Is Clear And Certain By Intuition Or Necessary Induction, No Subsequent Revelation Supported By Prophecies Or Miracles Can Supersede It.

I Consider A Decent Respect For Christianity Among The Best Recommendations For Public Service.

They Worry One Another Like Mastiffs, Scrambling For Rank And Pay Like Apes For Nuts.

The Constitution Is ...the Greatest Single Effort Of National Deliberation That The World Has Ever Seen

Yesterday, The Greatest Question Was Decided Which Ever Was Debated In America; And A Greater Perhaps Never Was, Nor Will Be, Decided Among Men. A Resolution Was Passed Without One Dissenting Colony, That Those United Colonies Are, And Of Right Ought To Be, Free And Independent States.

Let Them Revere Nothing But Religion, Morality And Liberty.

Founding Fathers Religion

Nothing Is More Dreaded Than The National Government Meddling With Religion.

A Representative Assembly, Although Extremely Well Qualified, And Absolutely Necessary, As A Branch Of The Legislative, Is Unfit To Exercise The Executive Power, For Want Of Two Essential Properties, Secrecy And Dispatch.

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.

Set Before Us The Conduct Of Our Own British Ancestors, Who Defended For Us The Inherent Rights Of Mankind Against Foreign And Domestic Tyrants And Usurpers, Against Arbitrary Kings And Cruel Priests; In Short Against The Gates Of Earth And Hell.

Every Measure Of Prudence, Therefore, Ought To Be Assumed For The Eventual Total Extirpation Of Slavery From The United States ... I Have, Throughout My Whole Life, Held The Practice Of Slavery In ... Abhorrence.

Major Greene This Evening Fell Into Some Conversation With Me About The Divinity And Satisfaction Of Jesus Christ. All The Argument He Advanced Was, "that A Mere Creature Or Finite Being Could Not Make Satisfaction To Infinite Justice For Any Crimes," And That "these Things Are Very Mysterious." Thus Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

The Holy Ghost Carries On The Whole Christian System In This Earth. Not A Baptism, Not A Marriage, Not A Sacrament Can Be Administered But By The Holy Ghost... There Is No Authority Civil Or Religious: There Can Be No Legitimate Government But What Is Administered By This Holy Ghost. There Can Be No Salvation Without It. All, Without It Is Rebellion And Perdition, Or In More Orthodox Words Damnation.

I Must Not Write A Word To You About Politics, Because You Are A Woman.

Riches Attract Attention, Consideration, And Congratulations Of Mankind.

Congratulations

We May Please Ourselves With The Prospect Of Free And Popular Governments. But There Is Great Danger That Those Governments Will Not Make Us Happy. God Grant They May. But I Fear That In Every Assembly, Members Will Obtain An Influence By Noise, Not Sense. By Meanness, Not Greatness. By Ignorance, Not Learning. By Contracted Hearts, Not Large Souls.

The United States Is Not A Christian Nation Any More Than It Is A Jewish Or A Mohammedan Nation.

I Do Not Like The Late Resurrection Of The Jesuits. . . . If Ever Any Congregation Of Men Could Merit Eternal Perdition On Earth, And In Hell, According To These Historians, Though, Like Pascal, True Catholics, It Is This Company Of Loyolas.

The Christian Religion As I Understand It Is The Best.

Human Government Is More Or Less Perfect As It Approaches Nearer Or Diverges Farther From The Imitation Of This Perfect Plan Of Divine And Moral Government.

There Never Was Yet A People Who Must Not Have Somebody Or Something To Represent The Dignity Of The State, The Majesty Of The People, Call It What You Will - A Doge, An Avoyer, An Archon, A President, A Consul, A Syndic; This Becomes At Once An Object Of Ambition And Dispute, And, In Time, Of Division, Faction, Sedition, And Rebellion.

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.

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Dennis Kucinich

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