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The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.

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
Men
Wisdom
Politics
Law
Bind
Happy
Virtuous
Death
Chains
May
Laws
Make
Wise
Never
Liberty

More quotes by John Quincy Adams

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I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service and knowing that except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain, with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country.
John Quincy Adams
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However tiresome to others, the most indefatigable orator is never tedious to himself. The sound of his own voice never loses its harmony to his own ear and among the delusions, which self-love is ever assiduous in attempting to pass upon virtue, he fancies himself to be sounding the sweetest tones
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The Constitution had provided that all the public functionaries of the Union...should be under oath or affirmation for its support. The homage of religious faith was thus superadded to all the obligations of temporal law to give it strength.
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My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ and I cannot cavil or quibble away... the whole tenor of His conduct by which He sometimes positively asserted and at others countenances His disciples in asserting that He was God.
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Man wants but little here below Nor wants that little long, 'Tis not with me exactly so But 'tis so in the song. My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score And were each wish a mint of gold, I still should long for more.
John Quincy Adams
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Where annual elections end where slavery begins.
John Quincy Adams
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It is by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that [people] are enabled to judge correctly of the past and to give a proper direction to the future.
John Quincy Adams
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Westward the star of empire takes its way.
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I would much rather be found guilty of making a serious mistake in judgment, than to be accused of being even a little bit insincere.
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A man's diary is a record in youth of his sentiments, in middle age of his actions, in old age of his reflections.
John Quincy Adams
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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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We know the redemption must come. The time and the manner of its coming we know not: It may come in peace, or it may come in blood but whether in peace or in blood, LET IT COME.
John Quincy Adams
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Whether to the nation or to the state, no service can be or ever will be rendered by a more able or a more faithful public servant.
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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.
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All that I am my mother made me.
John Quincy Adams
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I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.
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Our political way of life is by the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, and of course presupposes the existence of God, the moral ruler of the universe, and a rule of right and wrong, of just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and government.
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The manners of women are the surest criterion by which to determine whether a republican government is practicable in a nation or not.
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I have myself, for many years, made it a practice to read through the Bible once ever year.... My custom is, to read four to five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed. I employs about an hour of my time.
John Quincy Adams
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I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong.
John Quincy Adams