Kindlehighlight Quote by Joseph J. Ellis

“I am not a Federalist,” he declared in 1789, “because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever.… If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” quote by Joseph J. Ellis — Download Open image

““I am not a Federalist,” he declared in 1789, “because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever.… If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.””

Joseph J. Ellis

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2.8 out of 5 (8 ratings)

Kindlehighlight

More by Joseph J. Ellis

“Perhaps, in that eerily instinctive way in which he always grasped the difference between the essential and the peripheral, he literally felt in his bones that another term as president meant that he would die in office. By retiring when he did, he avoided that fate, which would have established a precedent that smacked of monarchical longevity by permitting biology…

Joseph J. Ellis

“Upon learning that Washington intended to reject the mantle of emperor, no less an authority than George III allegedly observed, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” True to his word, on December 22, 1783, Washington surrendered his commission to the Congress, then meeting in Annapolis: “Having now finished the work assigned me,” he…

Joseph J. Ellis

“The Adams presidency, in fact, might be the classic example of the historical truism that inherited circumstances define the parameters within which presidential leadership…

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

“p. 274 ...his trademark decision to surrender power as commander in chief and then president, was not...a sign that he had conquered his ambitions, but rather that he fully realized that all ambitions were inherently insatiable and unconquerable. He knew himself well enough to resist the illusion that he transcended human nature. Unlike Julius Caesar and Oliver Cromwell before him,…

Joseph J. Ellis

To my three sons, Peter, Scott, and Alexander who pulled me from the 18th Century and back into the present on a regular basis…

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

Lincoln once said that America was founded on a proposition that was written by Jefferson in 1776. We are really founded on an argument…

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

“They recognized from the beginning that they were a rare match. There were so many topics they could talk about easily and just as…

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

[quoting someone else] the American constitution is a document designed by geniuses to be eventually interpreted by idiots

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

I believe I am an honorable man.

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

“The first symptom of the trouble appeared when Madison studied Hamilton’s proposal for the funding of the domestic debt. On the one hand, Hamilton’s recommendation looked straightforward: All citizens who owned government securities should be reimbursed at par—that is, the full value of the government’s original promise. But many original holders of the securities, mainly veterans of the American Revolution…

Joseph J. Ellis

“But if insecurity was the primal source of Hamilton's incredibly energy, one would have to conclude that providence had conspired to produce at the…

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

“One of the petitioners, an infamous do-gooder of uncertain sanity named Warner Mifflin, had actually acknowledged that his antislavery vision came to him after…

Joseph J. Ellis

Image

Explore all 49 Joseph J. Ellis quotes

More Kindlehighlight quotes

“We take creative license with the fictional narratives that become our memories. Anthologized, these are the tales that become the story of your life.”

Danielle Ganek

Image

“Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of…

Joseph Conrad

Image

“Facebook also has a fundamental characteristic that has proven key to its appeal in country after country—you only see friends there.”

David Kirkpatrick

Image

“For instance, when people press their lips together in a manner that seems to make them disappear, it is a clear and common sign…

Joe Navarro

Image

“I pulled the dress out of the bag and held it in front of me. Ella sat up straighter and squinted her eyes, while Michael and Paco made the noises men make when a woman says, “What do you think?” Fathers probably teach those noises to their sons when they’re young—“Stand up when you’re introduced to a lady, use your…

Blaize Clement

“little children never get frozen by their selfishness. Like the disciples, they come just as they are, totally self-absorbed. They seldom get it right.…

Paul Miller

Image

“Lore: Making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!”

Wil Wheaton

Image

“What are the distinctive characteristics, or marks, of personality? Knowledge, feeling or emotion, and will. Any entity that thinks and feels and wills is…

R. A. (Reuben Archer) Torrey