Quote#Politics & Power
Whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating…
Quote byAbigail Adams · 1744–1818
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letter from Abigail to John Adams, Braintree, May, 7, 1776..
English (original)
Whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken
— Abigail Adams
More from Abigail Adams
You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.
How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking!
We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!”
I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in this province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me — to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.
The reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community.