Quote

I would define liberty to be a power to do as we would be done by. The definition of liberty to be the power of doing whatever the law permits, meaning the civil laws, does not seem satisfactory.

John Adams

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Would
Seem
Permits
Liberty
Permit
Law
Definition
Whatever
Define
Seems
Definitions
Power
Civil
Doe
Laws
Done
Meaning
Satisfactory

More quotes by John Adams

Image
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.
John Adams
Image
[I] never understood [what a republican government was and] I believe no other man ever did or ever will.
John Adams
Image
[T]he liberty, the unalienable, indefeasible rights of men, the honor and dignity of human nature, the grandeur and glory of the public, and the universal happiness of individuals, were never so skillfully and successfully consulted as in that most excellent monument of human art, the common law of England.
John Adams
Image
Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
John Adams
Image
I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation.
John Adams
Image
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.
John Adams
Image
You are apprehensive of monarchy I, of aristocracy. I would therefore have given more power to the President and less to the Senate.
John Adams
Image
In politics the middle way is none at all.
John Adams
Image
While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.
John Adams
Image
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.
John Adams
Image
Popularity, next to virtue and wisdom, ought to be aimed at for it is the dictate of wisdom, and is necessary to the practice of virtue inmost.
John Adams
Image
To believe all men honest is folly. To believe none is something worse.
John Adams
Image
Before any great things are accomplished, a memorable change must be made in the system of education...to raise the lower ranks of society nearer to the higher.
John Adams
Image
Always stand on principle even if you stand alone.
John Adams
Image
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
John Adams
Image
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams
Image
Modesty is a virtue that can never thrive in public.
John Adams
Image
This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.
John Adams
Image
The rights of Englishmen are derived from God, not from king or Parliament, and would be secured by the study of history, law, and tradition.
John Adams
Image
I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.
John Adams