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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?

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
Principles
Calculated
Virtue
Promote
Happiness
Sober
Form
Acknowledge
Government
Principle
Better
Foundation
Every
General
Men
Whose

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Modesty is a virtue that can never thrive in public.
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The proposition that the people are the best keepers of their own liberties is not true. They are the worst conceivable, they are no keepers at all they can neither judge, act, think, or will, as a political body.
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We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption.
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I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman.
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The only way to form an army to be confided in, was a systematic discipline, by which means all men may be made heroes.
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Farther I could find it in my heart to wish that you had been at the head of a hundred thousand Israelites . . . & marching with them into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your nation to the dominion of it. For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.
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Historically, usury was defined as any interest whatever on an unproductive loan.Our whole banking system I have ever abhorred, I continue to abhor, and I shall die abhorring.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This is a revolution, damn it! We're going to have to offend somebody!
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Slavery is a foul contagion in the human character.
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Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.
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Thomas Jefferson survives.
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The destiny of America is to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to all men everywhere.
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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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I shall have the liberty to think for myself.
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A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.
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He is too illiterate, unread, unlearned for his station and reputation.
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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.
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