Quote

Where annual elections end, there slavery begins ... Humility, patience, and moderation, without which every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey.

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
Power
Slavery
Annuals
Without
Humility
Annual
Every
Election
Elections
Men
Becomes
Prey
Politics
Moderation
Term
Beast
Political
Patience
Ends
Begins
Ravenous

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Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.
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The deliberate union of so great and various a people in such a place, is without all partiality or prejudice, if not the greatest exertion of human understanding, the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen.
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Borrowed eloquence, if it contains as good stuff, is as good as own eloquence
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The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.
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Yesterday, the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.
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Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens the understanding, and softens the heart
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He is too illiterate, unread, unlearned for his station and reputation.
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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.
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I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman.
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I do not like the reappearance of the Jesuits... Nevertheless, we are compelled by our system of religious toleration to offer them an asylum.
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The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity
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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
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One useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three is a Congress.
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Shall we have recourse to the art of printing? But this has not destroyed property or aristocracy or corporations or paper wealth in England or America, or diminished the influence of either on the contrary, it has multiplied aristocracy and diminished democracy.
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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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All sober inquirers after truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.
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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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It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power.
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Several country towns, within my observation, have at least a dozen taverns. Here the time, the money, the health and the modesty, of most that are young and of many old, are wasted. Here diseases, vicious habits, bastards and legislators are frequently spawned.
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The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people, and must be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.
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