Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues.
Abigail AdamsMay your mind be thoroughly impressed with the absolute necessity of universal virtue and goodness, as the only sure road to happiness, and may you walk therein with undeviating steps.
Abigail AdamsMen of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex.
Abigail AdamsNo one is without their difficulties, whether in High, or low Life, & every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.
Abigail AdamsYou cannot know, should I discribe to you; the feelings of a parent . . . . Four years have already past away since you left your native land, and this rural Cottage-Humble indeed, when compared to the Palaces you have visited, and the pomp you have been witness to. But I dare say you have not been so inattentive an observer, as to suppose that Sweet peace, and contentment, cannot inhabit the lowly roof, and bless the tranquil inhabitants, equally guarded and protected, in person and property, in this happy Country, as those who reside in the most elegant and costly dwellings.
Abigail AdamsThe only chance for much intellectual improvement in the female sex, was to be found in the families of the educated class and in occasional intercourse with the learned.
Abigail AdamsThe Character which a youth acquires in the early part of his Life is of great importance towards his future prosperity-one false step may prove irretrievable to his future usefulness.
Abigail AdamsArbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken.
Abigail AdamsThe great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government.
Abigail AdamsA little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world.
Abigail AdamsThe reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community.
Abigail AdamsA people fired ... with love of their country and of liberty, a zeal for the public good, and a noble emulation of glory, will not be disheartened or dispirited by a succession of unfortunate events. But like them, may we learn by defeat the power of becoming invincible.
Abigail AdamsDeliver me from your cold phlegmatic preachers, politicians, friends, lovers and husbands.
Abigail AdamsWell, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.
Abigail AdamsI've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.
Abigail AdamsA patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men?
Abigail AdamsThese are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.
Abigail AdamsIts never to late to get back on your feet though we wont live forever make sure you accomplish what you were put here for
Abigail AdamsDo not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.
Abigail AdamsI can hear of the brilliant accomplishments of any of my sex with pleasure and rejoice in that liberality of sentiment which acknowledges them.
Abigail AdamsWhat is the history of mighty kingdoms and nations, but a detail of the ravages and cruelties of the powerful over the weak?
Abigail AdamsIf particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.
Abigail AdamsDark and sour humours, especially those which have a spice of malevolence in them, are vastly disagreeable. Such men have no music in their souls.
Abigail AdamsIf we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instill'd take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women.
Abigail AdamsGreat learning and superior abilities...will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them.
Abigail AdamsMany of our disappointments and much of our unhappiness arise from our forming false notions of things and persons.
Abigail AdamsThe heart is long, very long in receiving the convictions that is forced upon it by reason... affection still lingers in the Bosom, even after esteem has taken its flight.
Abigail AdamsMy Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.
Abigail AdamsI feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in a labyrinth of perplexities; but, whatever occurs, may justice and righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.
Abigail AdamsBut let no person say what they would or would not do, since we are not judges for ourselves until circumstances call us to act.
Abigail Adamsposterity who are to reap the blessings will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.
Abigail AdamsIf we expect to inherit the blessings of our Fathers, we should return a little more to their primitive Simplicity of Manners.
Abigail AdamsI begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.
Abigail AdamsA people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people, but if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king.
Abigail AdamsI hope some future day will bring me the happiness of seeing my family again collected under our own roof, happy in ourselves and blessed in each other.
Abigail AdamsThese are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.
Abigail Adams