The Quotable Founding Fathers: A Treasury of 2,500 Wise and Witty Quotations from the Men and Women Who Created America

362 Pages·2004·2.18 MB·English

by  Buckner F. Melton Jr

T Q
HE UOTABLE
F F
OUNDING ATHERS
A Treasury of 2,500 Wise and Witty
Quotations from the Men and Women
Who Created America
Also by Buckner F. Melton, Jr.:
Aaron Burr: The Rise and Fall of an American Politician
A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers
Aaron Burr: Conspiracy to Treason
The First Impeachment: The Constitution’s Framers and the Case of
Senator William Blount
T Q
HE UOTABLE
F F
OUNDING ATHERS
A Treasury of 2,500 Wise and Witty
Quotations from the Men and Women
Who Created America
Edited by
Buckner F. Melton, Jr.
Research Assistant
Jane Garry
Washington, D.C.
Copyright ' 2004 by New England Publishing Associates, Inc., and Buckner F. Melton, Jr.
Published in the United States by Brassey(cid:146)s Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Editorial Administration and Design by Ron Formica
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The quotable founding fathers: a treasury of 2,500 wise and witty
quotations from the men and women who created America / edited by Buckner F. Melton, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-57488-609-6
1. Statesmen(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Quotations. 2. Presidents(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Quotations. 3.
United States(cid:151)Politics and government(cid:151)Philosophy(cid:151)Quotations, maxims, etc. 4.
United States(cid:151)Politics and government(cid:151)1775-1783(cid:151)Quotations, maxims, etc. 5. United
States(cid:151)Politics and government(cid:151)1783-1865(cid:151)Quotations, maxims, etc. 6. National
characteristics, American(cid:151)Quotations, maxims, etc.
7. Social values(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Quotations, maxims, etc.
8. Quotations, American.
I. Melton, Buckner F. II. Title.
E302.5.Q68 2004
973.3(cid:146)092(cid:146)2(cid:151)dc22
2003021720
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper that meets the American National
Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard.
Brassey(cid:146)s, Inc.
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, Virginia 20166
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C
ONTENTS
Introduction ix
John Adams 1 Constitution 38
John Quincy Adams 2 Corruption & Bribery 48
Samuel Adams 2 Crime & Punishment 48
Advice & Advisors 3 Cynicism 49
Age & Aging 3 Death 51
Aggression 6 Declaration of Independence 53
Agriculture & Farming 6 Defamation & Personal Attacks 56
Alcohol, Alcoholism, & Democracy & Republicanism 57
Drunkenness 8 Dependence 63
Ambition 9 Difficulties & Adversity 63
America & Americanism 11 Discipline 64
Anger 18 Due Process 65
Appearances & Vanity 19 Duty 66
Argument & Debate 20 Economics 67
Benedict Arnold 20 Education 67
Arts 20 Elections & Politics 72
Attention & Neglect 22 England (United Kingdom) 74
Bad Company 23 Envy & Malice 78
Baltimore 23 Equality & Equal Rights 78
Banks & Banking 23 Error 80
Bigotry 23 Excuses 81
Bill of Rights 24 Expansion & Manifest Destiny 81
Books 25 Experience 82
Boston 25 Facts & Opinions 83
Botany & Gardening 25 Faith 83
Bravery & Courage 26 Family 83
Aaron Burr 26 First Settlers 84
Business & Trade 27 The Flag 89
Change 30 Flattery & Praise 89
Character 30 Force & Coercion 90
Charity 31 Foreign Influence 92
Children & Parenting 32 Foreign Relations & Policy 92
Cities 33 France 96
Civil Rights 34 Benjamin Franklin 97
Compromise & Moderation 34 Freedom 97
Congress 34 Freedom of Speech & Press 99
Connecticut 35 Friends & Friendship 104
Conscience 36 Future 106
Consistency 37 Abraham Alfonse Albert Galatin 107
v
Gambling 107 Means & Ends 184
Geography 107 Memory 184
Georgia 108 Mercy & Compassion 184
God & Providence 108 Military & War 185
Good & Evil 110 Modesty 196
Government 110 Money 196
Government Spending & Public James Monroe 197
Debt 124 Morality & Moralists 198
Great Men & Statesmen 126 Motives & Intentions 199
Greed 127 Native Americans 200
Guns & Weapons 127 Natural Law 205
Alexander Hamilton 128 Nature & Wildlife 207
Happiness 128 Necessity 208
Health & Medicine 130 New England 208
History 131 North Carolina 209
Honesty 133 Thomas Paine 210
Honor 133 Passion 211
Human Nature 134 Patriotism 211
Humanity 134 Patronage & Appointments 217
Humility 134 Peace 217
Hypocrisy 134 Pennsylvania 219
Immigration 136 Perseverance & Determination 219
Impeachment 137 Pessimism & Optimism 220
Independence & National Philosophy & Ethics 220
Freedom 137 Pleasure & Pain 221
Intelligence & Knowledge 142 Political Parties & Factions 221
Thomas Jefferson 145 Posterity 223
John Paul Jones 146 Poverty & Economic Inequality 224
Judiciary & the Courts 147 Power 226
Juries 152 Presidency 231
Justice 152 Pride & Vanity 233
Kentucky 154 Privacy 234
Kings & Aristocrats 154 Progress 234
Labor & Work 157 Property 234
Language & Writing 158 Public Office 237
Laws 160 Public Opinion & Prejudice 239
Lawyers 165 Puritanism 242
Laziness & Sloth 168 Reason 243
Liberty 168 Religion 244
Lies & Falsehoods 176 Revolution & Rebellion 263
Love 177 Rhode Island 280
Luck & Good Fortune 178 Rights of the People 280
James Madison 179 Search & Seizure 285
Majorities & Minorities 179 Secrecy & Discretion 286
Manners 180 Self-Discipline 287
Marriage 181 Self-Interest 287
Massachusetts 184 Self-Reliance 287
vi
Separation of Power 288 Tyranny 311
Slavery & Race Relations 290 Unity 314
Solitude 302 Value 317
Speeches & Oration 302 Vengence & Revenge 317
States’ Rights & Federalism 302 Vice Presidency 318
Taxes 305 Virtue & Vice 319
Theory & Practice 308 War 321
Time 308 George Washington 322
Tobacco 309 Witchcraft 323
Treason 309 Women 325
Truth 310 Youth 328
Names Index 329
Subject Index 339
vii

I
NTRODUCTION
A book of quotations is a distillation of some of the most powerful words and
ideas from the sea of language that rises with each passing year. If those quotations
are from an age of particularly eloquent words and fertile thoughts, such as the
time of America(cid:146)s founding, then the book is all the more potent. The Quotable
Founding Fathers is just such a book.
It was in 1818 that John Adams, one of the greatest of the American Founders,
made one of the greatest of his many observations on the creation of the United
States. (cid:147)The Revolution was effected before the War commenced,(cid:148) he wrote of
the 1760s and 1770s. (cid:147)The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people;
a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. (cid:133) This
radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people,
was the real American Revolution.(cid:148)1
Adams was well-read in history, law, political philosophy, and the writings of
the moderns and the classical world. He sensed that the essence of what it means
to be human lay not in action but in idea. Thought and will gave meaning to acts,
setting persons apart from the rest of creation, for better or worse. An individual
is most truly revealed, then, in the telltales of his thought(cid:151)that is, in his written
and spoken words. By the same token, the words of a generation are how we best
know the history of an era.
Adams, of course, was not alone in his outlook. Many philosophers since classical
times have held the same idea of human nature; for the ancients of Cicero(cid:146)s day,
the better a person(cid:146)s rhetoric and command of language, the more human he was.
And a century after Adams, a very different sort of revolutionary would twist the
concept to his own purposes. (cid:147)Ideas,(cid:148) V. I. Lenin is supposed to have declared in
1920, (cid:147)are much more fatal things than guns.(cid:148)2
But the rebellion of Lenin was vastly different from the one in which John
Adams joined. More than one scholar, in fact, has asked whether the American
Revolution was a revolution at all. It was led by lawyers, merchants, and property-
owners(cid:151)groups that tend to have a stake in social and political stability(cid:151)and
those Americans who held power before the Revolution were, by and large, still in
power afterwards. The new state and federal governments the Founders established,
moreover, enshrined traditional English liberties, some of which dated back to the
time of the Magna Carta. In these respects, the Founders seem to have been
acting to preserve a way of life against new, imperialistic British encroachments
on old colonial freedoms, rather than establishing a new political or social order.3
ix