The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, Volume 6Little, Brown, 1851 - Presidents |
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Page 3
... least , more merit with the human race than any other among the moderns . The late most beautiful and liberal speculations of many writers , in various parts of Europe , are manifestly derived from English sources . Americans , too ...
... least , more merit with the human race than any other among the moderns . The late most beautiful and liberal speculations of many writers , in various parts of Europe , are manifestly derived from English sources . Americans , too ...
Page 6
... least there appears no other hypothesis on which to account for the crude conceptions of Milton and Nedham . The latter , in his preface , discovers his apprehensions and feelings , too clearly to be mistaken , in these words : " I ...
... least there appears no other hypothesis on which to account for the crude conceptions of Milton and Nedham . The latter , in his preface , discovers his apprehensions and feelings , too clearly to be mistaken , in these words : " I ...
Page 7
... least the majority of them would invade the liberties of the minority , sooner and oftener than an absolute monarchy , such as that of France , Spain , or Russia , or than a well - checked aristocracy , like Venice , Bern , or Holland ...
... least the majority of them would invade the liberties of the minority , sooner and oftener than an absolute monarchy , such as that of France , Spain , or Russia , or than a well - checked aristocracy , like Venice , Bern , or Holland ...
Page 9
... least , in sharing it equally with its present possessors . Debts would be abolished first ; taxes laid heavy on the rich , and not at all on the others ; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded , and voted ...
... least , in sharing it equally with its present possessors . Debts would be abolished first ; taxes laid heavy on the rich , and not at all on the others ; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded , and voted ...
Page 16
... least reluctance to the service ordained him by the senate , but accepted it with- out hesitation . All this appears in Livy , clearly contradictory to every sentiment of our author . At another time , when dis- putes ran so high ...
... least reluctance to the service ordained him by the senate , but accepted it with- out hesitation . All this appears in Livy , clearly contradictory to every sentiment of our author . At another time , when dis- putes ran so high ...
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Common terms and phrases
Adams Admiral ambition appear appointed aristocracy army assembly authority balance Béarn blood Bourbon Cæsar Cardinal Cardinal of Lorraine Catholic character Cincinnatus civil command common commonwealth Constable constitution consuls corruption court cracy danger decemvirs democratical despotism Duke of Anjou Duke of Guise elections enemies England envy equal example executive power faction favor form of government fortune France friends governors grandees hands hereditary honor Huguenots human influence interest jealousy judges King of Navarre kingdom laws legislative legislature liberty Mælius magistrates majority mankind Manlius Marchamont Nedham means ment merit mixed government moral nation nature never nobility nobles party passions patricians people's persons plebeians popular present preserve president Prince of Condé principles Queen mother reason religion representatives republic rich Roman Rome senate simple democracy simple monarchy sovereign sovereignty spirit standing powers States-General supreme thing tion tribunes truth tyranny United virtue vote whole
Popular passages
Page 266 - Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows ; each thing meets In mere oppugnancy : the bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores And make a sop of all this solid globe : Strength should be lord of imbecility, And the rude son should strike his father dead : Force should be right ; or rather, right and wrong, Between whose endless jar justice resides, Should lose their names, and so should justice too.
Page 264 - Order is Heaven's first law; and this confest, Some are, and must be, greater than the rest, More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence That such are happier, shocks all common sense.
Page 199 - If you thus behave yourselves, and so become a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well...
Page 274 - First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same...
Page 266 - Force should be right ; or rather, right and wrong (Between whose endless jar justice resides) Should lose their names, and so should justice too. Then everything includes itself in power, Power into will, will into appetite ; And appetite, an universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power, Must make perforce an universal prey, And last eat up himself.
Page 517 - In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, Aspiring to be angels, men rebel ; And who but wishes to invert the laws Of Order, sins against th
Page 168 - The instruction of the people in every kind of knowledge that can be of use to them in the practice of their moral duties as men, citizens, and Christians, and of their political and civil duties as members of society and freemen, ought to be the care of the public, and of all who have any share in the conduct of its affairs, in a manner that never yet has been practiced in any age or nation.
Page 265 - In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; For honour travels in a strait so narrow Where one but goes abreast : keep, then, the path...
Page 233 - The love of praise, howe'er conceal'd by art, Reigns, more or less, and glows, in every heart : The proud, to gain it, toils on toils endure ; The modest shun it, but to make it sure.
Page 266 - O, when degree is shak'd, Which is the ladder to all high designs, The enterprise is sick. How could communities, Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities, Peaceful commerce from dividable shores, The primogenitive and due of birth, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand in authentic place ? Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows...