I have no doubt our citizens will rally a second time round the standard of Common Sense.

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.

As a treaty of commerce it will be indeed of little use to us, and we shall never obtain anything more favorable so long as the principles of the navigation act are obstinately adhered to by Great Britain.

Indeed, I have no idea we shall ever obtain, by compact, a better footing for our commerce with this country than that on which it now stands; and therefore the shortness of time, limited for the operation of this part of the compact, is…

But circumstances will do more than any negotiation.

The pride of Britain itself must bend to the course of events.

The rigor of her system already begins to relax, and one year of war to her and peace to us will be more favorable to our interests, and to the final establishment of our principles, than could possibly be effected by twenty years of…

The terms, indeed, in which such a character as Washington has repeatedly expressed himself concerning me, have left me nothing to wish, if they did not alarm me by their very strength.

This error has nowhere been more frequently repeated, nowhere been of more pernicious tendency, than in America itself.

Adams surmised that it was owing to the indifference to his success of the leaders of the old Federal party, and remarked on the occasion, "This is among the thousand proofs how large a portion of Federalism is a mere fair-weather…

He considered himself placed between two batteries, neither of which regarded him as one of their soldiers.

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…

Adams deemed and maintained, was unconstitutional; and he called upon the supporters of the bill to point out the article, section, or paragraph, of the constitution, which authorized Congress to confer it on the President.

He regarded the constitution of the United States to be one of limited powers; and he declared that he could not reconcile it to his judgment that the authority exercised in this section was within the legitimate powers conferred by the…

The country is so totally given up to the spirit of party, that not to follow the one or the other is an unexpiable offence.

The worst of these has the popular current in its favor, and uses its triumph with all the unprincipled fury of faction; while the other is waiting, with all the impatience of revenge, for the time when its turn may come to oppress and…

If I cannot hope to give satisfaction to my country, I am at least determined to have the approbation of my own reflections.

I hope I shall be prepared for and able to bear it, from the consciousness of my sincerity and of my duty.

When it was intimated to him that his course was regarded as symptomatic of party apostasy, he replied that his sense of duty should never yield to the pleasure of party.

He concluded by asserting that an embargo was not necessary to the safety of our seamen, our vessels, or our merchandise, and was calculated to mislead the public mind to the public ruin.

The sight of so many of his countrymen in distress was extremely painful, and he determined to make an effort for their relief, without waiting for express authority from his government.

The whole of my life has been one continued experience of the difficulty of a man's adhering to the principle of living within his income; the first and most important principle of private economy.

In this country beyond all others, and in my situation more than any other, the temptations to expense amount almost to compulsion.

I have withstood them hitherto, and hope for firmness of character to withstand them in future.

These have been, through life, perpetual admonitions to do nothing unworthy of it.