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I never engaged in public affairs for my own interest, pleasure, envy, jealousy, avarice or ambition, or even the desire of fame

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
Ambition
Fame
Public
Avarice
Pleasure
Jealousy
Interest
Affairs
Desire
Engaged
Even
Envy
Never
Affair

More quotes by John Adams

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Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society.
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My God! This is a revolution! We have to offend someone!
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If we take a survey of the greatest actions...in the world...we shall find the authors of them all to have been persons whose Brains had been shaken out of their natural position.
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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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We hold that each man is the best judge of his own interest.
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All great changes are irksome to the human mind, especially those which are attended with great dangers and uncertain effects.
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I am a revolutionary, so my son can be a farmer, so his son can be a poet.
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Mystery is made a convenient Cover for absurdity.
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I consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for public service.
John Adams
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The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families.
John Adams
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[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.
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Virtue is not always amiable.
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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.
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There is not an enemy so stout, as to storm and take the fortress of the mind, Unless its infirmity turn traitor, and Fear unbar the gates.
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Let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a-flowing.
John Adams
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You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
John Adams
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There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.
John Adams
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The idea of infidelity [a disbelief in the inspiration of the Scriptures or the divine origin of Christianity] cannot be treated with too much resentment or too much horror. The man who can think of it with patience is a traitor in his heart and ought to be execrated [denounced] as one who adds the deepest hypocrisy to the blackest treason.
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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.
John Adams
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Riches attract attention, consideration, and congratulations of mankind.
John Adams