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
Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
Interpretation
Property is as fundamental a right as liberty for all individuals.
In this quote, John Adams emphasizes the intrinsic connection between property rights and individual liberty. He argues that just as liberty is an essential part of human existence, so too is the ownership of property, suggesting that the right to own and control one's possessions is vital for the freedom and well-being of mankind.
In practice
During a debate on civil liberties, one might quote Adams to emphasize the importance of property rights.
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.
Property monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind.
Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.
It will be remembered, that a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is solemnly enjoined by most of the state constitutions, and particularly by our own, as a necessary safeguard against the danger of degeneracy, to which republics are liable, as well as other governments, though in a less degree than others.
Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet.
We need to confront honestly the issue of scale... You may need a large corporation to run an airline or to manufacture cars, but you don't need a large corporation to raise a chicken or a hog. You don't need a large corporation to process local food or local timber and market it locally.
For though a man should be a complete unbeliever in the being of gods; if he also has a native uprightness of temper, such persons will detest evil in men; their repugnance to wrong disinclines them to commit wrongful acts; they shun the unrighteous and are drawn to the upright.
This is one of their [the Christians'] rules. Let no man that is learned, wise, or prudent come among us: but if they be unlearned, or a child, or an idiot, let him freely come. So they openly declare that none but the ignorant, and those devoid of understanding, slaves, women, and children, are fit disciples for the God they worship.
Fear must be entirely banished. The purified soul will fear nothing.
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