Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend.
John AdamsRead
All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The challenges faced in America are rooted in a lack of understanding of financial systems rather than flaws in governance or morality.
John Adams emphasizes that the societal issues in America stem from a widespread ignorance regarding financial concepts such as money, credit, and circulation. This suggests that a well-informed citizenry is crucial for the effective functioning of a society and its governance, indicating that knowledge and education in economic principles are essential for overcoming national difficulties.
Themes
IgnoranceEconomicsCreditMoneySociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about economic literacy, one might quote John Adams to highlight the importance of understanding finance.
More from John Adams
All quotes →Property monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind.
John AdamsRead
Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
John AdamsRead
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.
John AdamsRead
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John AdamsRead
The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.
John AdamsRead
Similar quotes
What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending - that's the whole point! Seriously.
Barack ObamaRead
I cannot disagree with you that having something like 500 economists is extremely unhealthy. As you say, it is not conducive to independent, objective research. You and I know there has been censorship of the material published. Equally important, the location of the economists in the Federal Reserve has had a significant influence on the kind of research they do, biasing that research toward noncontroversial technical papers on method as opposed to substantive papers on policy and results
Milton FriedmanRead
Markets as well as mobs respond to human emotions; markets as well as mobs can be inflamed to their own destruction.
Owen D. YoungRead
Thousands of important and intelligent men have never been able to grasp the principle of comparative advantage or believe it even after it was explained to them
Paul SamuelsonRead
I attempted to see famines as broad "economic" problems (concentrating on how people can buy food, or otherwise get entitled to it), rather than in terms of the grossly undifferentiated picture of aggregate food supply for the economy as a whole.
Amartya SenRead
It is a [disputed] question, whether the circulation of paper, rather than of specie [gold and silver coin], is a good or an evil I believe it to be one of those cases where mercantile clamor will bear down reason, until it is corrected by ruin.
Thomas JeffersonRead