John Adams quotes

Fear is the foundation of most governments.
John Adams

If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches,
grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information and benevolence.
John Adams

If the way to do good to my country were to render myself popular, I could easily do it. But
extravagant popularity is not the road to public advantage.
John Adams

Property monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind.
John Adams

I am determined to control events, not be controlled by them.
John Adams

The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire,
the less I seem to know. Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough.
John Adams

You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
John Adams

Killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty
enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of
the one, the few, and the many.
John Adams