Founding fathers Quote by Benjamin Franklin

As early as 1776, [John Adams] expressed his doubts about America's capacity for virtue. "I have seen all along my Life, Such Selfishness, and…

— Gordon S. Wood

“[John] Adams saw clearly that politics is the indispensable foundation for things elegant and beautiful. First and above all else, you must secure life,…

— Charles Krauthammer

“All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.…

— Mara Jacobs

[John] Adams never had an optimistic view of human nature, and his experience in the Congress and abroad only deepened his suspicion that his…

— Gordon S. Wood

[John] Adams's letters reveal his persistence and determination to win over the Dutch against all odds and to convince them and the other peoples…

— Gordon S. Wood

“Some talked,some wrote, and some fought to promote and establish it, but you, Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson thought for us all”

— Benjamin Rush

Every answer he [President John Adams] gives to his addressers unmasks more and more his principles and views. His language to the young men…

— James Madison

A man must be a born fool who voluntarily engages in controversy with Mr. Adams on a question of fact. I doubt whether he…

— Henry Clay

Americans, [John Adams] wrote in 1780, believed that their "revolution is as much for the benefit of the generality of Mankind in Europe, as…

— Gordon S. Wood

“So Henry Adams, well aware that he could not succeed as a scholar, and finding his social position beyond improvement or need of effort,…

— Henry Adams