American - President | October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826
A government of laws, and not of men.
John Adams
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While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.
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Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
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Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.
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Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.
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The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.
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When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.
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Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
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The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.
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Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination - everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.
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The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.
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Genius is sorrow's child.
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