Quotes · Skopia

45 quotes

1793

★ 1.2

Nature writing · Autobiography and memoir

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.

Henry Beston

1928

★ 1.8

The great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community... That in the operation of human institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the same.

John Quincy Adams

1845

★ 1.9

Dissertation · Newspaper

I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.

John Adams

1765

★ 1.9

Personal journal

This is the most significant movement of all! There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots, that I greatly admire. The people should never rise without doing something to be remembered, something notable and striking. This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that I cannot but consider it as an epocha in history.

John Adams

1773

★ 1.9

Essay · Newspaper

Metaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, than the consent of governors and governed.

John Adams

1775

★ 1.9

Letter

I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.

John Adams

Letter to Abigail Adams, November 2, 1800 · 1800

★ 1.9

Speech

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.

John Quincy Adams

1802

★ 1.9

Letter

The fundamental Article of my political Creed is, that Despotism, or unlimited Sovereignty, or absolute Power is the same in a Majority of a popular Assembly, and Aristocratical Counsel, an Oligarchical Junto and a Single Emperor.

John Adams

1813

★ 1.9

Speech · Political speech

It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has at the close of that generation by which it was formed been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders.

John Quincy Adams

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams · 1825

★ 1.9

Speech · Political speech

The forest has fallen by the ax of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists.

John Quincy Adams

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams · 1825

★ 1.9

Speech · Political speech

Whatsoever is of domestic concernment, unconnected with the other members of the Union or with foreign lands, belongs exclusively to the administration of the State governments. Whatsoever directly involves the rights and interests of the federative fraternity or of foreign powers is of the resort of this General Government. The duties of both are obvious in the general principle, though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in the detail.

John Quincy Adams

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams · 1825

★ 1.9

Speech · Political speech

It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation.

John Quincy Adams

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams · 1825

★ 1.9

Personal journal

A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.

John Adams

1760

★ 2.0

Speech · Political speech

We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.

John Adams

Inaugural Address of John Adams · 1797

★ 2.0

Speech · Political speech

Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened people?

John Adams

Inaugural Address of John Adams · 1797

★ 2.0

Speech · Political speech

Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed or suggested.

John Adams

Inaugural Address of John Adams · 1797

★ 2.0

Speech · Political speech

From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future.

John Quincy Adams

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams · 1825

★ 2.0

Pamphlet · Political literature

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

John Adams

1776

★ 2.1

Novel

Wear dark clothes after 6 p. M. Eat fresh fish for breakfast when available. Avoid kneeling in unheated stone churches. Ecclesiastical dampness causes premature gray hair. Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house. Courage tastes of blood. Stand up straight. Admire the world. Relish the love of a gentle woman. Trust in the Lord.

John Cheever

The Wapshot Chronicle · 1957

★ 3.4

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