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A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.

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
Certainly
Attention
Inflame
Men
Pens
Instrument
Presidential
Excellent
Instruments
Ambition

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Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense.
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A representative assembly, although extremely well qualified, and absolutely necessary, as a branch of the legislative, is unfit to exercise the executive power, for want of two essential properties, secrecy and dispatch.
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God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is got rid of, there never will be any liberal science in the world.
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I would quarrel with both parties, and with every individual of each, before I would subjugate my understanding, or prostitute my tongue or pen to either.
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You will ever remember that all the end of study is to make you a good man and a useful citizen.
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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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What is to become of an independent statesman, one who will bow the knee to no idol, who will worship nothing as a divinity but truth, virtue, and his country? I will tell you he will be regarded more by posterity than those who worship hounds and horses and although he will not make his own fortune, he will make the fortune of his country.
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They shall not be expected to acknowledge us until we have acknowledged ourselves.
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In politics the middle way is none at all.
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Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.
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The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation: The doctrine of a supreme, intelligent sovereign of the universe, I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.
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Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.
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Had I been chosen President again, I am certain I could not have lived another year.
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I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.
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One sailor will do us more good than two soldiers.
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It would be an absurdity for jurors to be required to accept the judge's view of the law, against their own opinion, judgment, and conscience.
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You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
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Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.
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What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?
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I shall have the liberty to think for myself.
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