Government Quotes by John Adams

A government of laws, and not of men.

— John Adams

Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

— John Adams

He is too illiterate, unread, unlearned for his station and reputation.

— John Adams

Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?

— John Adams

The happiness of society is the end of government.

— John Adams

When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone.

— John Adams

Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics

— John Adams

As the happiness of the people is the sole end of government, so the consent of the people is the only foundation…

— John Adams

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

— John Adams

Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.

— John Adams

The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.

— John Adams

What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?

— John Adams

Government has no Right to hurt a hair of the head of an Atheist, for his Opinions. Let him have a care…

— John Adams

We must not then depend alone upon the love of liberty in the soul of man for its preservation.

— John Adams

As good government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country,…

— John Adams

Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government…

— John Adams

If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better…

— John Adams

There is something very unnatural and odious in a government a thousand leagues off. A whole government of our own choice, managed…

— John Adams

The consequences arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us to prevent their growth in…

— John Adams

There is but one element of government, and that is THE PEOPLE. From this element spring all governments. "For a nation to…

— John Adams

The divine science of government is the science of social happiness, and the blessings of society depend entirely on the constitutions of…

— John Adams

The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government is to secure the existence of the body politic; to protect it,…

— John Adams

Thus, experience has ever shown, that education, as well as religion, aristocracy, as well as democracy and monarchy, are, singly, totally inadequate…

— John Adams

The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so…

— John Adams

We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our Liberties if anything partial or…

— John Adams

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit…

— John Adams

Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor,…

— John Adams

The question before the human race is, Whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether…

— John Adams

The form of government which you admire, when its principles are pure is admirable indeed. It is productive of every Thing which…

— John Adams

As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself…

— John Adams

The good of the governed is the end, and rewards and punishments are the means, of all government. The government of the…

— John Adams

Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and…

— John Adams

“It was the general opinion of ancient nations, that the divinity alone was adequate to the important office of giving laws to…

— John Adams

If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire.…

— John Adams

“There is nothing in which mankind have been more unanimous [founding nations upon superstition]; yet nothing can be inferred from it more…

— John Adams

Ambition is one of the ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable.

— John Adams

There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state.

— John Adams

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with…

— John Adams

No good government but what is republican... the very definition of a republic is 'an empire of laws, and not of men.'

— John Adams

The government of the United States of America has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of…

— John Adams