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Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

John Adams

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John Adams
Age: 90 †
Born: 1735
Born: October 19
Died: 1826
Died: July 4
2Nd U.S. President
Diplomat
Lawyer
Political Philosopher
Politician
Statesperson
Braintree
Massachusetts
President Adams
J. Adams
President John Adams
Leadership
Increases
Position
Persistence
Rights
Demands
Moral
Morality
Society
Increase
Power
Importance
Character
Demand
Authority
Corrupts

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Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
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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.
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During the whole time I sat with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three sentences together.
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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.
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My God! This is a revolution! We have to offend someone!
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I consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for public service.
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There's no such thing as a free lunch, unless you have a coupon for a free lunch...or someone gives you a lunch...never mind.
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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.
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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.
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Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.
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A government of laws, and not of men.
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The frightful engines of ecclesiastical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvinistical good-nature never failed to terrify me exceedingly whenever I thought of preaching.
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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.
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The universal object and idol of men of letters is reputation.
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When you see a good move, sit on your hands and find a better one.
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I drink no cider, but feast on Philadelphia beer.
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Ambition is one of the ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable.
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People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity.
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When philosophic reason is clear and certain by intuition or necessary induction, no subsequent revelation supported by prophecies or miracles can supersede it.
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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.
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