John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States and the son of John and Abigail Adams.
He had a rich political career serving as a diplomat senator and representative.
Adams was an popular figure in American history contributing significantly as Secretary of State under President Monroe.
He played a key role in formulating the Monroe Doctrine and acquiring Florida from Spain.
Despite facing criticism and hostility during his presidency Adams continued to advocate for national programs and civil liberties.
After his presidency he was elected to the House of Representatives where he fought against the restriction of civil liberties and worked tirelessly to repeal the “gag rule” against anti-slavery petitions.
Adams passed away in 1848 leaving a significant legacy in American politics.
Below you will find the best quotes by John Quincy Adams.
Best John Quincy Adams Quotes
We know the redemption must come. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Our Constitution rests on the good sense and the respect of the American people. ~ John Quincy Adams.
A stout heart, a clear conscience, and never despair. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Whoever tells the best story wins. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The freedom of the press should be inviolate. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Life is a problem; mortal man was made to solve the solemn problem right or wrong. ~ John Quincy Adams.
To believe that everyone is honest is folly, but to believe that no one is honest is worse. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The Sermon on the Mount commands me to lay up for myself treasures, not upon earth, but in Heaven. My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I would much rather be found guilty of making a serious mistake in judgment, than to be accused of being even a little bit insincere. ~ John Quincy Adams.
In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations. ~ John Quincy Adams.
A stranger would think that the people of the United States had no other occupation than electioneering. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Try and fail, but don’t fail to try. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Wise John Quincy Adams Quotes
Not stones, nor wood, nor the art of artisans make a state; but where men are who know how to take care of themselves, these are cities and walls. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Those who take oaths to politically powerful secret societies cannot be depended on for loyalty to a democratic republic. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I have to study politics and war so that my sons can study mathematics, commerce and agriculture, so their sons can study poetry, painting and music. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Duty is ours, results are God’s. ~ John Quincy Adams.
America is a friend of freedom everywhere, but a custodian only of our own. ~ John Quincy Adams.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. ~ John Quincy Adams.
A 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 Adams.
About one-half of the members of Congress are seekers for office at the nomination of the President. Of the remainder, at least one-half have some appointment or favor to ask for their relatives. ~ John Quincy Adams.
From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Top John Quincy Adams Quotes
The law is an artificial human construct, quite arbitrary, and of absolutely no use anywhere else but in a court of law! ~ John Quincy Adams.
The manners of women are the surest criterion by which to determine whether a republican government is practicable in a nation or not. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Though it cost the blood of millions of white men, let it come. Let justice be done. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which will not at the same time demonstrate the right of religious freedom. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God. It contains the history of the creation of the world, and of mankind. ~ John Quincy Adams.
My stern chase after time is, to borrow a simile from Tom Paine, like the race of a man with a wooden leg after a horse. ~ John Quincy Adams.
His face is livid, gaunt his whole body, his breath is green with gall; his tongue drips poison. ~ John Quincy Adams.
This is the last of earth! I am content. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Famous John Quincy Adams Quotes
The four most miserable years of my life were my four years in the presidency. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The gigantic intellect, the envious temper, the ravenous ambition and the rotten heart of Daniel Webster. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The art of making love, muffled up in furs, in the open air, with the thermometer at Zero, is a Yankee invention. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The magistrate is the servant not of his own desires, not even of the people, but of his God. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Posterity – you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I told him it was law logic-an artificial system of reasoning, exclusively used in courts of justice, but good for nothing anywhere else. ~ John Quincy Adams.
It was the special purpose of Christ’s appearance upon earth to bring immortality to light. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Individual liberty is individual power. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Great John Quincy Adams Quotes
The conflict between the principle of liberty and the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. Slavery has now the power, and falls into convulsions at the approach of freedom. ~ John Quincy Adams.
There is such seduction in a library of good books that I cannot resist the temptation to luxuriate in reading. ~ John Quincy Adams.
May our country be always successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the North American Union. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The public history of all countries, and all ages, is but a sort of mask, richly colored. The interior working of the machinery must be foul. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The Bible carries with it the history of the creation, the fall and redemption of man, and discloses to him, in the infant born at Bethlehem, the Legislator and Savior of the world. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds and broken in on by the storms, and, from all I can learn, the landlord does not intend to repair. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Profound John Quincy Adams Quotes
We understand now, we’ve been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding that who we are is who we were. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Roll, years of promise, rapidly roll round, till not a slave shall on this earth be found. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Westward the star of empire takes its way. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America’s heart, her benedictions and her prayers. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Whether 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 Adams.
Death fixes forever the relation existing between the departed spirit and the survivors upon earth. ~ John Quincy Adams.
There is nothing so deep and nothing so shallow which political enmity will not turn to account. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The best guarantee against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections. ~ John Quincy Adams.
It is my wish to fill every moment of my time with some action of the mind which may contribute to the pleasure or the improvement of my fellow creatures. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the defenses of war. ~ John Quincy Adams.
There is in the clergy of all Christian denominations a time-serving, cringing, subservient morality, as wide from the spirit of the gospel as it is from the intrepid assertion and vindication of truth. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Every temptation is an opportunity of our getting nearer to God. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Popular John Quincy Adams Quotes
I have no predilection for unpopularity as such, but I hold it much preferable to the popularity of a day, which perishes with the transient topic upon which it is grounded. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The more you meditate on the laws of Moses, the more striking and brighter does their wisdom appear. ~ John Quincy Adams.
No book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly studied, and so profoundly meditated upon as the Bible. ~ John Quincy Adams.
To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse. ~ John Quincy Adams.
America… goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. ~ John Quincy Adams.
The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth… ~ John Quincy Adams.
This mode of electioneering suited neither my taste nor my principles. I thought it equally unsuitable to my personal character and to the station in which I am placed. ~ John Quincy Adams.
Idleness is sweet, and its consequences are cruel. ~ John Quincy Adams.
I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year. ~ John Quincy Adams.
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. ~ John Quincy Adams.
So these were the 75 top John Quincy Adams quotes on democracy, leadership and life.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Jim Elliot quotes and Josephine Baker quotes.
