Quote

It is not unfrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by it but their own liberty, to oppress without control or the restraint of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves.

Samuel Adams

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Samuel Adams
Age: 81 †
Born: 1722
Born: September 27
Died: 1803
Died: October 2
Founding Father Of The United States
Philosopher
Politician
Boston
Massachusetts
Sam Adams
Men
Upon
Judge
Action
Actions
Tenor
Else
Judging
Tenors
May
Laws
Oppress
Without
Control
Loudly
Nothing
Liberty
Poorer
Whole
Hear
Weaker
Mean
Law
Restraint

More quotes by Samuel Adams

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We boast of our freedom, and we have your example for it. We talk the language we have always heard you speak.
Samuel Adams
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We may look up to Armies for Defence, but Virtue is our best Security. It is not possible that any state should long remain free, where Virtue is not supremely honord.
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Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter.
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Nil desperandum, -- Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.
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I ... [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.
Samuel Adams
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I cannot however help repeating Piety, because I think it indispensible. Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament & its best Security.
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A standing army, however necessary it may be at some times, is always dangerous to the liberties of the people. Such power should be watched with a jealous eye.
Samuel Adams
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Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote...that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
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Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.
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Every one knows that the exercise of military power is forever dangerous to civil rights and we have had recent instances of violences that have been offer'd to private subjects.
Samuel Adams
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But there are some persons who wouldpersuade the people never to make use of their constitutional rights.
Samuel Adams
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May every citizen ... have a proper sense of the Deity upon his mind and an impression of the declaration recorded in the Bible, 'Him that honoreth Me I will honor, but he that despiseth Me shall be lightly esteemed.'
Samuel Adams
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If we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.
Samuel Adams
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A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested.
Samuel Adams
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If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
Samuel Adams
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If virtue & knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslav'd. This will be their great security.
Samuel Adams
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The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.
Samuel Adams
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The Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.
Samuel Adams
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Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty, in matters spiritual and temporal is a thing that all men are clearly entitled to by the eternal and immutable laws of God and nature, as well as by the laws of nations and all well-grounded and municipal laws, which must have their foundation in the former.
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Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.
Samuel Adams