John Adams

"...religion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society."

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."

"Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom."

"Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws."

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

"Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist."

"Public business must always be done by somebody... If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not."

"Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private - and public virtue is the only foundation of republics."

"Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."