Top 63 Quotes & Sayings by Abigail Adams

I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.

Great necessities call out great virtues.

Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues.

We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.

A little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world.

If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women.

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, 'Give, give.'

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.

If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.

Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.

I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.

Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken.

Great learning and superior abilities...will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them.

To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.

Let your observations and comparisons produce in your mind an abhorrence of domination and power, the parent of slavery, ignorance, and barbarism, which places man upon a level with his fellow tenants of the woods.

A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men?

You cannot know, should I discribe to you; the feelings of a parent . . . . Four years have already past away since you left your native land, and this rural Cottage-Humble indeed, when compared to the Palaces you have visited, and the pomp you have been witness to. But I dare say you have not been so inattentive an observer, as to suppose that Sweet peace, and contentment, cannot inhabit the lowly roof, and bless the tranquil inhabitants, equally guarded and protected, in person and property, in this happy Country, as those who reside in the most elegant and costly dwellings.

Heaven grant me that I may thus rejoice in my children, thus see them ornaments to their Country, and blessings to their parents.

It is to me a most affecting thing to hear myself prayed for, in particular as I do every day in the week, and disposes me to bear with more composure, some disagreeable circumstances that attend my situation.

If we expect to inherit the blessings of our Fathers, we should return a little more to their primitive Simplicity of Manners.

Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex.

The Character which a youth acquires in the early part of his Life is of great importance towards his future prosperity-one false step may prove irretrievable to his future usefulness.

No one is without their difficulties, whether in High, or low Life, & every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.

May your mind be thoroughly impressed with the absolute necessity of universal virtue and goodness, as the only sure road to happiness, and may you walk therein with undeviating steps.

The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government.

I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in a labyrinth of perplexities; but, whatever occurs, may justice and righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.

When men know not what to do, they ought not to do they know not what

How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking!

Dark and sour humours, especially those which have a spice of malevolence in them, are vastly disagreeable. Such men have no music in their souls.

The house shakes...with the roar of the cannon. No sleep for me tonight.

These are the times when a genius wants to live.

I acknowledge myself a unitarian

posterity who are to reap the blessings will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.

What is meat for one is not for another--no accounting for fancy.

Many of our disappointments and much of our unhappiness arise from our forming false notions of things and persons.

The habits of a vigorous mind are born in contending with difficulties.

The heart is long, very long in receiving the convictions that is forced upon it by reason... affection still lingers in the Bosom, even after esteem has taken its flight.

When he is wounded, I bleed. {page 262 of John Adams}

What is the history of mighty kingdoms and nations, but a detail of the ravages and cruelties of the powerful over the weak?

History is not a web woven with innocent hands. Among all the causes which degrade and demoralize men, power is the most constant and most active.

My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

O, I have read his Heart in his wicked eyes many a time. The very devil is in them.

The reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community.

I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could... That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend.

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature.

My Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

I hope some future day will bring me the happiness of seeing my family again collected under our own roof, happy in ourselves and blessed in each other.

But let no person say what they would or would not do, since we are not judges for ourselves until circumstances call us to act.

A people fired ... with love of their country and of liberty, a zeal for the public good, and a noble emulation of glory, will not be disheartened or dispirited by a succession of unfortunate events. But like them, may we learn by defeat the power of becoming invincible.

A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people, but if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king.

Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.

What is it that affectionate parents require of their Children; for all their care, anxiety, and toil on their accounts? Only that they would be wise and virtuous, Benevolent and kind.

If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instill'd take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women.

Deliver me from your cold phlegmatic preachers, politicians, friends, lovers and husbands.

I acknowledge myself a unitarian - Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God, and that Jesus Christ derived his Being, and all his powers and honors from the Father. ... There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three.

Its never to late to get back on your feet though we wont live forever make sure you accomplish what you were put here for

These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.