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 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 88
Page 4
... preserved as the most precious relics of antiquity , both for curiosity and use . There is one indispensable rule to be observed in the perusal of all of them ; and that is , to consider the period in which they were written , the ...
... preserved as the most precious relics of antiquity , both for curiosity and use . There is one indispensable rule to be observed in the perusal of all of them ; and that is , to consider the period in which they were written , the ...
Page 6
... preserve their own . " Our first attention should be turned to the proposition itself , - " The people are the best keepers of their own liberties . " But who are the people ? " Such as shall be successively chosen to represent them ...
... preserve their own . " Our first attention should be turned to the proposition itself , - " The people are the best keepers of their own liberties . " But who are the people ? " Such as shall be successively chosen to represent them ...
Page 9
... preservation or acquisition of it . In societies the most culti- vated and polished , vanity , fashion , and folly prevail over every thought of ways to preserve their own . They seem rather to study what means of luxury , dissipation ...
... preservation or acquisition of it . In societies the most culti- vated and polished , vanity , fashion , and folly prevail over every thought of ways to preserve their own . They seem rather to study what means of luxury , dissipation ...
Page 10
... preserve their own . It is very easy to flatter the democratical portion of society , by making such distinctions between them and the mo- narchical and aristocratical ; but flattery is as base an artifice , and as pernicious a vice ...
... preserve their own . It is very easy to flatter the democratical portion of society , by making such distinctions between them and the mo- narchical and aristocratical ; but flattery is as base an artifice , and as pernicious a vice ...
Page 12
... preserve their own . The senate was now annihilated , many of them murdered . Augustus , Lepidus , and Antony were popular demagogues , who agreed together to fleece the flock between them , until the most cunning of the three destroyed ...
... preserve their own . The senate was now annihilated , many of them murdered . Augustus , Lepidus , and Antony were popular demagogues , who agreed together to fleece the flock between them , until the most cunning of the three destroyed ...
Other editions - View all
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...