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[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.

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
Upon
Constitution
Free
Pure
Religion
Principles
Securely
Stand
Founders
Virtue
Founding
Liberty
Establish
Alone
Morality
Freedom
Foundation

More quotes by John Adams

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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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There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
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I drink no cider, but feast on Philadelphia beer.
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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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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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Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. What a Utopia! What a paradise this region would be.
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Make Things rather than Persons the subjects of conversations.
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Negro slavery is an evil of colossal magnitude.
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Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.
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We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!
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They worry one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay like apes for nuts.
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Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
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The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or limited sovereignty, or absolute power is the same [whether] in a majority of a popular assembly an aristocratic council or oligarchical junto and a single emperor - equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody and in every respect diabolical.
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He is too illiterate, unread, unlearned for his station and reputation.
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I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits... Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum.
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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.
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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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There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.
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Had I been chosen President again, I am certain I could not have lived another year.
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Thomas Jefferson survives.
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