Quotes by John Quincy Adams

“America... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.””

“Government has no right to hurt a hair on the head of an Atheist for his Opinions. Let him have a care of his Practices.{}””

“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.””

“To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse.””

“Though it cost the blood of millions of white men, let it come. Let justice be done.””

“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all His laws.””

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.””

“We understand now, we've been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding that who we are is who we were.””

“To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is ... the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself and enlarges the sphere of existence.””

“THE Gospel of Christ not only differs from all other systems of religion in the superior excellence of the truths it reveals, but also in the directions it gives for the propagation of its doctrines. Other systems seek to advance themselves by invoking the aid of the secular power, and by forcing men, against their convictions, to accept a theory repugnant to their views. They have thus succeeded in thronging their temples with hypocritical worshippers, bound to tlieir altars through fear and slavish dread. These systems, in order to maintain themselves, find it necessary to proscribe and persecute all who differ from them, either in their articles of belief or mode of worship. But the Gospel of Christ, though it is the infallible truth of God, expressly prohibits a resort to any such measures for its advancement. It not only teaches its adherents to utterly abandon the use of carnal weapons for its propagation, but it also charges them not to proscribe those who may differ in their views or mode of worship. This principle is directly expressed in the text and its connection. The teaching of the Saviour has been violated, however, even by his professed followers; and, in the name of the meek and lowly Jesus, men have gone forth with proscription, oppression, and persecution, to advance their own opinions, and crush out that liberty of thought, and those rights of conscience vouchsafed to man by his Maker, and the free exercise of which is alone compatible with his personal accountability.””

“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.””