Quote

Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken.

Abigail Adams

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Abigail Adams
Age: 73 †
Born: 1744
Born: November 22
Died: 1818
Died: October 28
First Lady
Politician
Weymouth
Massachusetts
Abigail Smith
Abigail Smith Adams
Arbitrary
Broken
Politics
Power
Hard
Things
Like
Liable

More quotes by Abigail Adams

Image
I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, 'Give, give.'
Abigail Adams
Image
posterity who are to reap the blessings will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.
Abigail Adams
Image
Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.
Abigail Adams
Image
These are the times when a genius wants to live.
Abigail Adams
Image
Great necessities call out great virtues.
Abigail Adams
Image
My Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.
Abigail Adams
Image
The Character which a youth acquires in the early part of his Life is of great importance towards his future prosperity-one false step may prove irretrievable to his future usefulness.
Abigail Adams
Image
To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.
Abigail Adams
Image
It is to me a most affecting thing to hear myself prayed for, in particular as I do every day in the week, and disposes me to bear with more composure, some disagreeable circumstances that attend my situation.
Abigail Adams
Image
I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.
Abigail Adams
Image
What is it that affectionate parents require of their Children for all their care, anxiety, and toil on their accounts? Only that they would be wise and virtuous, Benevolent and kind.
Abigail Adams
Image
The reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community.
Abigail Adams
Image
The heart is long, very long in receiving the convictions that is forced upon it by reason... affection still lingers in the Bosom, even after esteem has taken its flight.
Abigail Adams
Image
Deliver me from your cold phlegmatic preachers, politicians, friends, lovers and husbands.
Abigail Adams
Image
The only chance for much intellectual improvement in the female sex, was to be found in the families of the educated class and in occasional intercourse with the learned.
Abigail Adams
Image
A little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world.
Abigail Adams
Image
Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues.
Abigail Adams
Image
History is not a web woven with innocent hands. Among all the causes which degrade and demoralize men, power is the most constant and most active.
Abigail Adams
Image
A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people, but if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king.
Abigail Adams
Image
If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.
Abigail Adams