Character Quotes by John Adams

Virtue is not always amiable.

— John Adams

Modesty is a virtue that can never thrive in public.

— John Adams

Slavery is a foul contagion in the human character.

— John Adams

Let frugality and industry be our virtues.

— John Adams

The happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.

— John Adams

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

— John Adams

The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families.

— John Adams

The study and practice of law ... does not dissolve the obligations of morality or of religion.

— John Adams

We have no Constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people

— John Adams

Let them revere nothing but religion, morality and liberty.

— John Adams

Happiness, whether in despotism or democracy, whether in slavery or liberty, can never be found without virtue

— John Adams

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

— John Adams

“Knowledge in the head and virtue in the heart, time devoted to study or business, instead of show and pleasure, are the…

— John Adams

The people have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge - I…

— John Adams

All sober inquirers after truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his…

— John Adams

Popularity, next to virtue and wisdom, ought to be aimed at; for it is the dictate of wisdom, and is necessary to…

— 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

If the empire of superstition and hypocrisy should be overthrown, happy indeed will it be for the world; but if all religion…

— John Adams

Ambition is the subtlest beast of the intellectual and moral field. It is wonderfully adroit in concealing itself from its owner.

— John Adams

[J]udges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention.…

— John Adams

A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general…

— John Adams

“Now to what higher object, to what greater character, can any mortal aspire than to be possessed of all this knowledge, well…

— John Adams

It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and…

— John Adams

“It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The…

— John Adams

We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance…

— 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

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or…

— 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

Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people being necessary for the preservation of their…

— John Adams

The arts and sciences, in general, during the three or four last centuries, have had a regular course of progressive improvement. The…

— John Adams

“Human nature with all its infirmities and deprivation is still capable of great things. It is capable of attaining to degrees of…

— John Adams

“Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people being necessary for the preservation of their…

— 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

Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against…

— John Adams

When the Congress first met, Mr. Cushing made a motion that it should be opened with prayer . . . Mr. Samuel…

— 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

“All the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arise, not from want of honor or virtue, but from the downright ignorance of…

— John Adams

Your Letters concerning Miss N. have given me as much Concern as they ought-not knowing the Character nor what to advise, but…

— John Adams

Liberty, according to my metaphysics, is an intellectual quality, an attribute that belongs not to fate nor chance. Neither possesses it, neither…

— John Adams

I have long been settled in my own opinion that neither Philosophy, nor Religion, nor Morality, nor Wisdom, nor Interest, will ever…

— John Adams