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As The Safety And Prosperity Of Nations Ultimately And Essentially Depend On The Protection And The Blessing Of Almighty God, And The National Acknowledgment Of This Truth Is Not Only An Indispensable Duty Which The People Owe To Him.

-John Adams

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As The Safety And

John Adams

...

As The Safety And Prosperity Of Nations Ultimately And Essentially Depend On The Protection And The Blessing Of Almighty God, And The National Acknowledgment Of This Truth Is Not Only An Indispensable Duty Which The People Owe To Him.

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The Numbers Of Men In All Ages Have Preferred Ease, Slumber, And Good Cheer To Liberty, When They Have Been In Competition.

Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude.

The Divinity Of Jesus Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity. Nowhere In The Gospels Do We Find A Precept For Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, And Whole Carloads Of Other Foolish Trumpery That We Find In Christianity.

The General Principles On Which The Fathers Achieved Independence Were The General Principles Of Christianity

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

Here Is Everything Which Can Lay Hold Of The Eye, Ear And Imagination - Everything Which Can Charm And Bewitch The Simple And Ignorant. I Wonder How Luther Ever Broke The Spell.

My God! This Is A Revolution! We Have To Offend Someone!

I Had Heard My Father Say That He Never Knew A Piece Of Land Run Away Or Break.

The Rights Of Englishmen Are Derived From God, Not From King Or Parliament, And Would Be Secured By The Study Of History, Law, And Tradition.

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.

You Are Apprehensive Of Monarchy; I, Of Aristocracy. I Would Therefore Have Given More Power To The President And Less To The Senate.

The Frightful Engines Of Ecclesiastical Councils, Of Diabolical Malice, And Calvinistical Good-nature Never Failed To Terrify Me Exceedingly Whenever I Thought Of Preaching.

We May... Affirm That The Balance Of Power In A Society Accompanies The Balance Of Property In Land. The Only Possible Way, Then, Of Preserving The Balance Of Power On The Side Of Liberty And Public Virtue Is To Make The Acquisition Of Land Easy To Every Member Of Society; To Make A Division Of The Land Into Small Quantities, So That The Multitude May Be Possessed Of Landed Estates.

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.

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.

Virtue Is Not Always Amiable.

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.

You Will Ever Remember That All The End Of Study Is To Make You A Good Man And A Useful Citizen.

Inspirational Life

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.

[j]udges, Therefore, Should Be Always Men Of Learning And Experience In The Laws, Of Exemplary Morals, Great Patience, Calmness, Coolness, And Attention. Their Minds Should Not Be Distracted With Jarring Interests; They Should Not Be Dependent Upon Any Man, Or Body Of Men.

One Sailor Will Do Us More Good Than Two Soldiers.

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

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

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.

Democracies Have

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 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.

[d]emocracy Will Soon Degenerate Into An Anarchy, Such An Anarchy That Every Man Will Do What Is Right In His Own Eyes And No Man's Life Or Property Or Reputation Or Liberty Will Be Secure, And Every One Of These Will Soon Mould Itself Into A System Of Subordination Of All The Moral Virtues And Intellectual Abilities, All The Powers Of Wealth, Beauty, Wit And Science, To The Wanton Pleasures, The Capricious Will, And The Execrable Cruelty Of One Or A Very Few.

Honor Is Truly Sacred, But Holds A Lower Rank In The Scale Of Moral Excellence Than Virtue. Indeed The Former Is Part Of The Latter, And Consequently Has Not Equal Pretensions To Support A Frame Of Government Productive Of Human Happiness.

The Truth Is That Neither Then Nor At Any Former Time, Since I Had Attained My Maturity In Age, Reading And Reflection Had I Imbibed Any General Prejudice Against Kings, Or In Favour Of Them. It Appeared To Me Then As It Has Done Ever Since, That There Is A State Of Society In Which A Republican Government Is The Best, And In America The Only One.

What Other Form Of Government, Indeed, Can So Well Deserve Our Esteem And Love?

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.

It Is Much Easier To Pull Down A Government, In Such A Conjuncture Of Affairs As We Have Seen, Than To Build Up, At Such A Season As The Present.

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.

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.

A Constitution Founded On These Principles Introduces Knowledge Among The People, And Inspires Them With A Conscious Dignity Becoming Freemen; A General Emulation Takes Place, Which Causes Good Humor, Sociability, Good Manners, And Good Morals To Be General. That Elevation Of Sentiment Inspired By Such A Government, Makes The Common People Brave And Enterprising. That Ambition Which Is Inspired By It Makes Them Sober, Industrious, And Frugal.

As The Government Of The United States Of America 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, - And As The Said States Never Have Entered Into Any War Or Act Of Hostility Against Any Mehomitan Nation, It Is Declared By The Parties That No Pretext Arising From Religious Opinions Shall Ever Produce An Interruption Of The Harmony Existing Between The Two Countries.

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.

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

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

The Only Foundation Of A Free Constitution, Is Pure Virtue, And If This Cannot Be Inspired Into Our People, In A Great Measure, Than They Have It Now. They May Change Their Rulers, And The Forms Of Government, But They Will Not Obtain A Lasting Liberty.

I Sometimes, In My Sprightly Moments, Consider Myself, In My Great Chair At School, As Some Dictator At The Head Of A Commonwealth. In This Little State I Can Discover All The Great Geniuses, All The Surprising Actions And Revolutions Of The Great World In Miniature. I Have Several Renowned Generals But Three Feet High, And Several Deep-projecting Politicians In Petticoats. I Have Others Catching And Dissecting Flies, Accumulating Remarkable Pebbles, Cockleshells, Etc., With As Ardent Curiosity As Any Virtuoso In The Royal Society.

We Have No Constitution Which Functions In The Absence Of A Moral People

The Appearance Of Religion Only On Sunday Proves That It Is Only An Appearance.

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

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

The Education Here Intended In Not Merely That Of The Children Of The Rich And Noble, But Of Every Rank And Class Of People, Down To The Lowest And The Poorest. It Is Not Too Much To Say That Schools For The Education Of All Should Be Placed At Convenient Distances, And Maintained At The Public Expense.

I Shall Have The Liberty To Think For Myself.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Oh! The Wisdom, The Foresight And The Hindsight And The Rightsight And The Leftsight, The Northsight And The Southsight, And The Eastsight And The Westsight That Appeared In That August Assembly.

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

If We Take A Survey Of The Greatest Actions...in The World...we Shall Find The Authors Of Them All To Have Been Persons Whose Brains Had Been Shaken Out Of Their Natural Position.

Education Makes A Greater Difference Between Man And Man Than Nature Has Made Between Man And Brute.

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.

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.

It Is An Observation Of One Of The Profoundest Inquirers Into Human Affairs That A Revolution Of Government Is The Strongest Proof That Can Be Given By A People Of Their Virtue And Good Sense.

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.

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.

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.

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 Am A Revolutionary, So My Son Can Be A Farmer, So His Son Can Be A Poet.

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.

A Government Of Laws, And Not Of Men.

Let Them Revere Nothing But Religion, Morality And Liberty.

Founding Fathers Religion

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.

To Be Good, And To Do Good, Is All We Have To Do.

The Law No Passion Can Disturb. 'tis Void Of Desire And Fear, Lust And Anger. 'tis Mens Sine Affectu, Written Reason, Retaining Some Measure Of The Divine Perfection. It Does Not Enjoin That Which Pleases A Weak, Frail Man, But, Without Any Regard To Persons, Commands That Which Is Good And Punishes Evil In All, Whether Rich Or Poor, High Or Low.

If The Way To Do Good To My Country Were To Render Myself Popular, I Could Easily Do It. But Extravagant Popularity Is Not The Road To Public Advantage.

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.

In Politics The Middle Way Is None At All.

Rulers Are No More Than Attorneys, Agents, And Trustees, For The People; And If The Cause, The Interest And Trust, Is Insidiously Betrayed, Or Wantonly Trifled Away, The People Have A Right To Revoke The Authority That They Themselves Have Deputed, And To Constitute Abler And Better Agents, Attorneys, And Trustees.

The Dignity And Stability Of Government In All Its Branches, The Morals Of The People, And Every Blessing Of Society Depend So Much Upon An Upright And Skillful Administration Of Justice, That The Judicial Power Ought To Be Distinct From Both The Legislative And Executive, And Independent Upon Both, That So It May Be A Check Upon Both, As Both Should Be Checks Upon That.

Old Minds Are Like Old Horses; You Must Exercise Them If You Wish To Keep Them In Working Order.

I Am For Making Of Terms Annual, And For Sending An Entire New Set Every Year.

As To The History Of The Revolution, My Ideas May Be Peculiar, Perhaps Singular. What Do We Mean By The Revolution? The War? That Was No Part Of The Revolution; It Was Only An Effect And Consequence Of It. The Revolution Was In The Minds Of The People, And This Was Effected From 1760 To 1775, In The Course Of Fifteen Years, Before A Drop Of Blood Was Shed At Lexington.

Numberless Have Been The Systems Of Iniquity Contrived By The Great For The Gratification Of This Passion In Themselves; But In None Of Them Were They Ever More Successful Than In The Invention And Establishment Of The Canon And The Feudal Law.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Before Any Great Things Are Accomplished, A Memorable Change Must Be Made In The System Of Education...to Raise The Lower Ranks Of Society Nearer To The Higher.

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.

Public Virtue Cannot Exist In A Nation Without Private, And Public Virtue Is The Only Foundation Of Republics.

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

Genius Is Sorrow's Child.

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.

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.

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!

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.

I Drink No Cider, But Feast On Philadelphia Beer.

Liberty, According To My Metaphysics, Is An Intellectual Quality, An Attribute That Belongs Not To Fate Nor Chance. Neither Possesses It, Neither Is Capable Of It. There Is Nothing Moral Or Immoral In The Idea Of It. The Definition Of It Is A Self-determining Power In An Intellectual Agent. It Implies Thought And Choice And Power; It Can Elect Between Objects, Indifferent In Point Of Morality, Neither Morally Good Nor Morally Evil.

We Shall Convince France And The World, That We Are Not A Degraded People, Humiliated Under A Colonial Spirit Of Fear And A Sense Of Inferiority, Fitted To Be The Miserable Instruments Of Foreign Influence, And Regardless Of National Honor, Character, And Interest.

Public Virtue Cannot Exist In A Nation Without Private, And Public Virtue Is The Only Foundation Of Republics. There Must Be A Positive Passion For The Public Good, The Public Interest, Honour, Power And Glory, Established In The Minds Of The People, Or There Can Be No Republican Government, Nor Any Real Liberty: And This Public Passion Must Be Superiour To All Private Passions.

[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.

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!

The Moment The Idea Is Admitted Into Society That Property Is Not As Sacred As The Law Of God, And That There Is Not A Force Of Law And Public Justice To Protect It, Anarchy And Tyranny Commence.

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.

Mr. Jefferson Has Reason To Reflect Upon Himself. How He Will Get Rid Of His Remorse In His Retirement, I Know Not. He Must Know That He Leaves The Government Infinitely Worse Than He Found It, And That From His Own Error Or Ignorance.

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.

Individuals Have Conquered Themselves. Nations And Large Bodies Of Men, Never.

Democracies Have

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?

There Is But One Element Of Government, And That Is The People. From This Element Spring All Governments. "for A Nation To Be Free, It Is Only Necessary That She Wills It." For A Nation To Be Slave, It Is Only Necessary That She Wills It.

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

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.

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.

As Good Government Is An Empire Of Laws, How Shall Your Laws Be Made? In A Large Society, Inhabiting An Extensive Country, It Is Impossible That The Whole Should Assemble To Make Laws. The First Necessary Step, Then, Is To Depute Power From The Many To A Few Of The Most Wise And Good.

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.

If The Christian Religion, As I Understand It, Or As You Understand It, Should Maintain Its Ground, As I Believe It Will, Yet Platonic, Pythagoric, Hindoo, And Cabalistical Christianity, Which Is Catholic Christianity, And Which Has Prevailed For 1500 Years, Has Received A Mortal Wound, Of Which The Monster Must Finally Die. Yet So Strong Is His Constitution, That He May Endure For Centuries Before He Expires.

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.

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.

Politics Are A Labyrinth Without A Clue.

I Must Study War And Politics So That My Children Shall Be Free To Study Commerce, Agriculture And Other Practicalities, So That Their Children Can Study Painting, Poetry And Other Fine Things.

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

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

Libertarian Party

The Divine Science Of Government Is The Science Of Social Happiness, And The Blessings Of Society Depend Entirely On The Constitutions Of Government.

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

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.

This Is A Revolution, Damn It! We're Going To Have To Offend Somebody!

[t]he Liberty, The Unalienable, Indefeasible Rights Of Men, The Honor And Dignity Of Human Nature, The Grandeur And Glory Of The Public, And The Universal Happiness Of Individuals, Were Never So Skillfully And Successfully Consulted As In That Most Excellent Monument Of Human Art, The Common Law Of England.

That The Desires Of The Majority Of The People Are Often For Injustice And Inhumanity Against The Minority, Is Demonstrated By Every Page Of The History Of The World.

Ambition Is One Of The Ungovernable Passions Of The Human Heart. The Love Of Power Is Insatiable And Uncontrollable.

The Question Before The Human Race Is, Whether The God Of Nature Shall Govern The World By His Own Laws, Or Whether Priests And Kings Shall Rule It By Fictitious Miracles?

If There Is A Form Of Government, Then, Whose Principle And Foundation Is Virtue, Will Not Every Sober Man Acknowledge It Better Calculated To Promote The General Happiness Than Any Other Form?

We Must Not Then Depend Alone Upon The Love Of Liberty In The Soul Of Man For Its Preservation.

If Worthless Men Are Sometimes At The Head Of Affairs, It Is, I Believe, Because Worthless Men Are At The Tail And The Middle

Arms In The Hands Of Citizens May Be Used At Individual Discretion... In Private Self-defense.

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

Founding Fathers Religion

The Happiness Of Society Is The End Of Government.

[i]t Is Religion And Morality Alone Which Can Establish The Principles Upon Which Freedom Can Securely Stand. The Only Foundation Of A Free Constitution Is Pure Virtue.

The Essence Of A Free Government Consists In An Effectual Control Of Rivalries.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Whenever Serious Art Loses Track Of Its Roots In The Vernacular, Then It Begins To Atrophy.

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'.

And Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without A General Knowledge Among The People Who Have A Right From The Frame Of Their Nature To Knowledge, As Their Great Creator Who Does Nothing In Vain, Has Given Them Understandings And A Desire To Know. But Besides This They Have A Right, An Indisputable, Unalienable, Indefeasible Divine Right To The Most Dreaded And Envied Kind Of Knowledge, I Mean Of The Characters And Conduct Of Their Rulers.

The Happiness Of Man, As Well As His Dignity, Consists In Virtue.

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

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.

We Electors Have An Important Constitutional Power Placed In Our Hands; We Have A Check Upon Two Branches Of The Legislature.

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.

They Shall Not Be Expected To Acknowledge Us Until We Have Acknowledged Ourselves.

We Are In The The Very Midst Of A Revolution, The Most Complete, Unexpected And Remarkable Of Any In The History Of Nations.

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."

Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

We Recognize No Sovereign But God, And No King But Jesus!

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.

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.

When Legislature Is Corrupted, The People Are Undone.

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

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

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 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.

People And Nations Are Forged In The Fires Of Adversity.

Before God, I Believe The Hour Has Come. My Judgment Approves This Measure, And My Whole Heart Is In It. All That I Have, And All That I Am, And All That I Hope In This Life, I Am Now Ready Here To Stake Upon It. And I Leave Off As I Began, That Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish, I Am For The Declaration. It Is My Living Sentiment, And By The Blessing Of God It Shall Be My Dying Sentiment. Independence Now, And Independence For Ever!

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.

He Is Too Illiterate, Unread, Unlearned For His Station And Reputation.

In Days Of Yore, The Poet's Pen From Wing Of Bird Was Plunder'd, Perhaps Of Goose, But Now And Then, From Jove's Own Eagle Sunder'd. But Now, Metallic Pens Disclose Alone The Poet's Numbers; In Iron Inspiration Glows, Or With The Poet Slumbers.

Property Must Be Secured, Or Liberty Cannot Exist.

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.

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

Power Must Never Be Trusted Without A Check.

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

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.

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.

I Request That They May Be Considered In Confidence, Until The Members Of Congress Are Fully Possessed Of Their Contents, And Shall Have Had Opportunity To Deliberate On The Consequences Of Their Publication; After Which Time, I Submit Them To Your Wisdom.

Slavery Is A Foul Contagion In The Human Character.

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

We Cannot Insure Success, But We Can Deserve It.

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!

The True Source Of Our Sufferings Has Been Our Timidity.

There Is Not An Enemy So Stout, As To Storm And Take The Fortress Of The Mind, Unless Its Infirmity Turn Traitor, And Fear Unbar The Gates.

If There Is Ever An Amelioration Of The Condition Of Mankind, Philosophers, Theologians, Legislators, Politicians And Moralists Will Find That The Regulation Of The Press Is The Most Difficult, Dangerous And Important Problem They Have To Resolve. Mankind Cannot Now Be Governed Without It, Nor At Present With It.

What Havoc, Said I To Myself, Would These Manners Make In America! Our Governors, Our Judges, Our Senators Or Representatives, And Even Our Ministers, Would Be Appointed By Harlots, For Money; And Their Judgments, Decrees, And Decisions, Be Sold To Repay Themselves, Or, Perhaps, To Procure The Smiles Of Profligate Females.

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

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

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

The Foundations Of National Morality Must Be Laid In Private Families.

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

Upon This Point All Speculative Politicians Will Agree, That The Happiness Of Society Is The End Of Government, As All Divines And Moral Philosophers Will Agree That The Happiness Of The Individual Is The End Of Man. From This Principle It Will Follow That The Form Of Government Which Communicates Ease, Comfort, Security, Or, In One Word, Happiness, To The Greatest Numbers Of Persons, And In The Greatest Degree, Is The Best. 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.

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

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

Human Passions Unbridled By Morality And Religion...would Break The Stronges Cords Of Our Constitution As A Whale Goes Through A Net.

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

Admire And Adore The Author Of The Telescopic Universe, Love And Esteem The Work, Do All In Your Power To Lessen Ill, And Increase Good, But Never Assume To Comprehend.

...cities May Be Rebuilt, And A People Reduced To Poverty, May Acquire Fresh Property: But A Constitution Of Government Once Changed From Freedom, Can Never Be Restored. Liberty Once Lost Is Lost Forever. When The People Once Surrendered Their Share In The Legislature, And Their Right Of Defending The Limitations Upon The Government, And Of Resisting Every Encroachment Upon Them, They Can Never Regain It.

The Christian Religion As I Understand It Is The Best.

There Are Persons Whom In My Heart I Despise, Others I Abhor. Yet I Am Not Obliged To Inform The One Of My Contempt, Nor The Other Of My Detestation. This Kind Of Dissimulation...is A Necessary Branch Of Wisdom, And So Far From Being Immoral...that It Is A Duty And A Virtue.

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.

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

My History Of The Jesuits Is Not Elegantly Written, But Is Supported By Unquestionable Authorities, Is Very Particular And Very Horrible. Their Restoration Is Indeed "a Step Toward Darkness," Cruelty, Perfidy, Despotism, Death And I Wish We Were Out Of Danger Of Bigotry And Jesuitism.

[i] Never Understood [what A Republican Government Was And] I Believe No Other Man Ever Did Or Ever Will.

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Gordon B. Hinckley

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