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There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state, the majesty of the people, call it what you will - a doge, an avoyer, an archon, a president, a consul, a syndic this becomes at once an object of ambition and dispute, and, in time, of division, faction, sedition, and rebellion.

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
Must
Ambition
Factions
Something
Objects
Disputes
Never
Becomes
Majesty
Time
Somebody
Rebellion
People
Call
Division
Consul
State
Represent
Sedition
President
Object
Faction
States
Dignity
Dispute

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Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
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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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People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity.
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He is too illiterate, unread, unlearned for his station and reputation.
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[You have Rights] antecedent to all earthly governments: Rights, that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws Rights, derived from the Great Legislator of the universe.
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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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Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.
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Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.
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The universal object and idol of men of letters is reputation.
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The government of the United States of America has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.
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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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A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.
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When you see a good move, sit on your hands and find a better one.
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It is folly to anticipate evils, and madness to create imaginary ones.
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Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.
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The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families.
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Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
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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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Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense.
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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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