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Ambition is one of the ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable.

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
Human
Uncontrollable
Humans
Insatiable
Heart
Passions
Love
Ambition
Passion
Politics
Power
Government
Ungovernable

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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.
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No good government but what is republican... the very definition of a republic is 'an empire of laws, and not of men.'
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They shall not be expected to acknowledge us until we have acknowledged ourselves.
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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.
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We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!
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Ambition is the subtlest beast of the intellectual and moral field. It is wonderfully adroit in concealing itself from its owner.
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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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They worry one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay like apes for nuts.
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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'.
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If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
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Ideology is the science of idiots.
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Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.
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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.
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Borrowed eloquence, if it contains as good stuff, is as good as own eloquence
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When economic power became concentrated in a few hands, then political power flowed to those possessors and away from the citizens, ultimately resulting in an oligarchy or tyranny.
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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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To believe all men honest is folly. To believe none is something worse.
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This is my religion ... joy and exaltation in my own existence ... so go ahead and snarl ... bite ... howl, you Calvinistic divines and all you who say I am no Christian. I say you are not Christian.
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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!
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I consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for public service.
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