Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this Government, and that both have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error.
John Quincy AdamsThe law is an artificial human construct, quite arbitrary, and of absolutely no use anywhere else but in a court of law!
John Quincy AdamsWhether to the nation or to the state, no service can be or ever will be rendered by a more able or a more faithful public servant.
John Quincy AdamsTo a man of liberal education, the study of history is not only useful, and important, but altogether indispensable, and with regard to the history contained in the Bible ...it is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with as it is shameful to be ignorant of it.
John Quincy AdamsA man's diary is a record in youth of his sentiments, in middle age of his actions, in old age of his reflections.
John Quincy AdamsLet us not be unmindful that liberty is power, that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth. Our Constitution professedly rests upon the good sense and attachment of the people. This basis, weak as it may appear, has not yet been found to fail. Always vote for a principle, though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost. America, in the assembly of nations, has uniformly spoken among them the language of equal liberty, equal justice, and equal rights.
John Quincy Adams