"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence."
About Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams — Life and Legacy
Abigail Adams, the wife of the second U.S. President John Adams, was a pivotal figure in early American history, particularly known for her advocacy for women's rights. Her correspondence with her husband reveals her progressive views during a time when women's voices were often silenced. In her famous plea to 'Remember the Ladies,' she urged John to consider women's rights in the formation of new laws, showcasing her belief in equality and justice. Abigail's quotes reflect her deep understanding of freedom and the necessity of including women in the discourse on rights. She stated, 'If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion,' highlighting her resolve to challenge the status quo. This sentiment illustrates her commitment to advocating for women's roles in society and governance, pushing against the constraints of her era. Her ideas continue to resonate today, as they laid the groundwork for future movements advocating for gender equality. Abigail Adams's legacy is not just in her role as a First Lady but as a forward-thinking individual who dared to envision a society where women could participate fully in civic life.
Quote collection
Abigail Adams quotes (page 1 of 4)
62 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation."
"I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic."
"Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues."
"No one is without their difficulties, whether in High, or low Life, & every person knows best where their own shoe pinches."
"I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could... That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend."
"If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instill'd take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women."
"My Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions."
"A people fired ... with love of their country and of liberty, a zeal for the public good, and a noble emulation of glory, will not be disheartened or dispirited by a succession of unfortunate events. But like them, may we learn by defeat the power of becoming invincible."
"Great necessities call out great virtues."
"Its never to late to get back on your feet though we wont live forever make sure you accomplish what you were put here for"
"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."
"Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance."
"Many of our disappointments and much of our unhappiness arise from our forming false notions of things and persons."
"To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words."
"A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people, but if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king."
"These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman."
"I acknowledge myself a unitarian - Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God, and that Jesus Christ derived his Being, and all his powers and honors from the Father. ... There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three."
"If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women."
"Great learning and superior abilities...will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them."