On this suggestion he remarked: "A conciliatory course, so far as may be compatible with self-respect, is proper and necessary towards all; but, in the protracted agony of character and reputation which it is the will of a superior power I should pass through, it is my duty to link myself to the fortunes of no man.
Quincy shares Adams' thoughts on maintaining self-respect while navigating political relationships.
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I am determined to get my own living, and to be dependent upon no one.
Rather than live otherwise, I would wish to die before my time.
The tongue of falsehood can never be silenced.
He early adopted two principles, as rules of his political conduct, from which he never deviated,--to seek or solicit no public office, and, to whatever station he might be called by his country, to use no instrument for success or…
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