If its operation should turn out more advantageous to them, it will be more honorable for us; and I never can object to entering formally into an obligation to do that which, upon every virtuous principle, ought to be done without it.
Quincy emphasizes the moral obligation to act honorably, regardless of formal agreements.
Share
More from Josiah Quincy
With a tolerable share of common sense, I hope, in America, to be independent and free.
The tongue of falsehood can never be silenced.
Adams replied: "I well know this; but labor I shall not refuse so long as my hands, my eyes, and my brain, do not desert me.
This error has nowhere been more frequently repeated, nowhere been of more pernicious tendency, than in America itself.
Other voices in this conversation
