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 QUOTES for Freedom, Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness ... FREEDOM Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. - John Adams, Defense of the Constitutions, 1787 ************* I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. - John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1780 ************* National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman. - John Adams, letter to James Lloyd, January, 1815 ************* Objects of the most stupendous magnitude, and measure in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are intimately interested, are now before us. We are in the very midst of a revolution the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in the history of nations. - John Adams, letter to William Cushing, June 9, 1776 *************
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LIFE No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. - Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775 ************* As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families. - John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 16, 1814 ************* Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. - John Adams, letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814 *************
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LIBERTY If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin. - Samual Adams ************* But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. - John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 17, 1775 ************* Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions. - John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, April 16, 1776 *************
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PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS Government, in my humble opinion, should be formed to secure and to enlarge the exercise of the natural rights of its members; and every government, which has not this in view, as its principal object, is not a government of the legitimate kind. - James Wilson, Lectures on Law, 1791 ************* If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form? - John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776 *************
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