John Quincy Adams was an iconic political figure of the early 19th century. He also had a deep understanding of our nation’s politics during its formative years. John Quincy Adams’ witticisms, powerful arguments, and aptitude for diplomacy have stood the test of time – we can still learn from his words and quotes today!
The following 41 quotes from John Quincy Adams demonstrate his genius for writing about freedom, courage, humility, justice, and many other topics. Get ready to be inspired by John Quincy Adams’ timeless words as you discover how his words continue to relate to our lives today.
I hope you enjoy these quotes by John Quincy Adams…
1) “All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.”
2) “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
3) “America does not go abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.”
4) “The best guarantee against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections.”
5) “I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong.”
6) “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.”
7) “Democracy, pure democracy, has at least its foundation in a generous theory of human rights. It is founded on the natural equality of mankind. It is the cornerstone of the Christian religion. It is the first element of all lawful government upon earth.”
8) “Duty is ours, results are God’s.”
9) “From the experience of the past, we derive instructive lessons for the future.”
…In a state of nature, but not of anarchy.
10) “From the day of the Declaration, the people of the North American union, and of its constituent states, were associated bodies of civilized men and Christians, in a state of nature, but not of anarchy.”
11) “If the fundamental principles in the Declaration of Independence, as self-evident truths, are real truths, the existence of slavery, in any form, is a wrong.”
12) “Gratitude, warm, sincere, intense when it takes possession of the bosom, fills the soul to overflowing and scarce leaves room for any other sentiment or thought.”
13) “I have no predilection for unpopularity as such, but I hold it much preferable to the popularity of a day, which perishes with the transient topic upon which it is grounded.”
14) “I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”
15) “Idleness is sweet, and its consequences are cruel.”
16) “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
17) “In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do.”
18) “Individual liberty is individual power.”
19) “It is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?”
More famous quotes by John Quincy Adams…
20) “America is a friend of freedom everywhere, but a custodian only of our own.”
21) “We know the redemption must come.”
22) “The more you meditate on the laws of Moses, the more striking and brighter does their wisdom appear.”
23) “It is my wish to fill every moment of my time with some action of the mind which may contribute to the pleasure or the improvement of my fellow creatures.”
24) “Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this Government and that both have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error.”
25) “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”
26) “Posterity – you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”
27) “All the public business in Congress now connects itself with intrigues, and there is great danger that the whole government will degenerate into a struggle of cabals.”
28) “Roll, years of promise, rapidly roll round, till not a slave shall on this earth be found.”
29) “I speak as a man of the world to men of the world, and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages, and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity.”
Quotes by John Quincy Adams on Leadership
30) “I have to study politics and war so that my sons can study mathematics, commerce, and agriculture, so their sons can study poetry, painting, and music.”
31) “To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.”
32) “My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.”
33) “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
34) “There are three points of doctrine the belief of which forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of God; the second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is a future state of rewards and punishments. Suppose it is possible for a man to disbelieve either of these three articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark. 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.”
35) “Those who take oaths to politically powerful secret societies cannot be depended on for loyalty to a democratic republic.”
36) “Though it cost the blood of millions of white men, let it come. Let justice be done.”
37) “Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.”
38) “We understand now, we’ve been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding that who we are is who we were.”
39) “It was the special purpose of Christ’s appearance upon earth to bring immortality to light.”
Insightful quotes and sayings by John Quincy Adams.
40) “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people…it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
41) “The will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth.”
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