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All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.

John Quincy Adams

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John Quincy Adams
Age: 80 †
Born: 1767
Born: July 11
Died: 1848
Died: February 23
6Th U.S. President
Diarist
Diplomat
Lawyer
Politician
Statesperson
Braintree
Massachusetts
John Q. Adams
President Adams
John Adams
J. Q. Adams
J. Adams
JQA
None
Honest
Long
Something
Profess
Believe
Patriotic
Would
Folly
Men
Honesty
Worse

More quotes by John Quincy Adams

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What is the right of the huntsman to the forest of a thousand miles over which he has accidentally ranged in quest of prey? Shall the fields and vallies, which a beneficent God has formed to teem with the life of innumerable multitudes, be condemned to everlasting barrenness?
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So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year.
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Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call 'creative thinking.' It is playfully instructive to note that the word 'reactive' and the word 'creative' are made up of exactly the same letters. The only difference between the two is that you 'C' [see] differently.
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I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong.
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The Law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.
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Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
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Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.
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The firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the defenses of war.
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This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe, For Freedom only deals the deadly blow Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in Freedom's hallowed shade.
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To believe that everyone is honest is folly, but to believe that no one is honest is worse.
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To live without having a Cicero and a Tacitus at hand seems to me as if it was aprivation of one of my limbs.
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Civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which will not at the same time demonstrate the right of religious freedom.
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Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day (the 4th of July)? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior?.
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It has been my custom for many years to read the Bible in its entirety once a year
John Quincy Adams
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The American continents, by the free and independent condition that they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonisation byany European powers? In the wars of the Europeanpowers inmattersrelating to ourselves, we have never taken any part nor does it comport with our policy to do so.
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The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth.
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A stout heart, a clear conscience, and never despair.
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The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality.
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Religion, charity, pure benevolence, and morals, mingled up with superstitious rites and ferocious cruelty, form in their combination institutions the most powerful and the most pernicious that have ever afflicted mankind.
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The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis.
John Quincy Adams