My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived. – John Adams
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve? – John Adams
But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow. It is like a large Fleet sailing under Convoy. The fleetest Sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest. Like a Coach and sixthe swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened, that all may keep an even Pace. – John Adams
Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power. – John Adams