Any Quote by Foster Friess

I think [John's Adams] descriptions of the personalities of [Benjamin] Franklin and [Tomas] Jefferson and others were pretty accurate. It is only when he…

— Gordon S. Wood

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

Uncritical reverence for the Founding Fathers was less ubiquitous while they actually lived. . . . "The Reign of Terror that raged in America…

— Thomas Paine

[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

By the time [John Adams] came to write his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States in 1787 he had as dark a…

— Gordon S. Wood

Perhaps more significant than his experience in Europe, though, was [John] Adams's experience in his own country, and his extensive reading on the history…

— Gordon S. Wood

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

“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

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

“[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

“As we look over the list of the early leaders of the republic, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton, and others, we discern that they were…

— James Truslow Adams

By 1782 [John Adams] had come to feel for [Benjamin] Franklin "no other sentiments than Contempt or Abhorrence."

— Gordon S. Wood