154 quotes
We recognize no sovereign but God, and no king but Jesus!
Misattributed
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
Misattributed
Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!
Misattributed
A mob is still a mob, even if it's on your side.
Misattributed Adams as portrayed in the HBO Miniseries John Adams (2008)
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm; and that three or more become a Congress!
Misattributed Adams as portrayed in the musical 1776 (1969)
There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.
Misattributed
What are the Qualifications of a Secretary of State? He ought to be a Man of universal Reading in Laws, Governments, History. Our whole terrestrial Universe ought to be summarily comprehended in his Mind.
Attributed
God is an essence we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is gotten rid of there will never be any liberal science in the world.
Misattributed to Adams in A Brief History of Disbelief BBC Four (2005)
The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity.
Misattributed to Adams in Pathway to the Stars (2007)
As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen … it is declared … that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Misattributed
The "divinity" of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.
Misattributed to Adams in Spirit (1988)
Genius is sorrow's child.
Misattributed
The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in His truth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a Sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost … There is no authority civil or religious: There can be no legitimate government but what is administered by the Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it. All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words damnation.
Misattributed
My friend, there is something very serious in this business. The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in this earth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost, Who is transmitted from age to age by laying the hands of the Bishop on the heads of candidates for the ministry. . . . There is no authority, civil or religious — there can be no legitimate government — but what is administered by this Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it — all without it is rebellion and perdition, or, in more orthodox words, damnation. . . Your prophecy, my dear friend, has not become history as yet. I have no resentment of animosity against the gentleman [Jefferson] and abhor the idea of blackening his character or transmitting him in odious colors to posterity. But I write with difficulty and am afraid of diffusing myself in too many correspondences. If I should receive a letter from him, however, I should not fail to acknowledge and answer it.
Misattributed