Your stationary bill alone for paper, Quills, Ink, Wafers, Wax, sand and sound, must have amounted to enough to maintain a small family.

I hope one day your letters will be all published in volumes. They will not always appear Orthodox, or liberal in politicks; but they will exhibit a mass of Taste, Sense, Literature and Science, presented in a sweet simplicity, and a neat elegance of Stile, which will be read with delight in...

Your number of 1267. letters in a year, does not surprise me; I have no list of mine, and I could not make one without a weeks research. and I do not believe I ever received one quarter part of your number. And I very much doubt whether I received in the same year one twelfth part; There are...

and even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them. in short, the flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776. have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the...

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. so good night! I will dream on, always fancying that mrs Adams and yourself are by my side marking the progress and the obliquities of ages and countries.

bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. education & free discussion are the antidotes of both. we are destined to be a barrier against the returns of ignorance and barbarism.

there is a ripeness of time for death, regarding others as well as ourselves, when it is reasonable we should drop off, and make room for another growth. when we have lived our generation out, we should not wish to encroach on another. I enjoy good health; I am happy in what is around me. yet I...

But even in Europe a change has sensibly taken place in the mind of Man. science had liberated the ideas of those who read and reflect, and the American example had kindled feelings of right in the people. an insurrection has consequently begun, of science, talents & courage against rank and...

before the establishment of the American states, nothing was known to History but the Man of the old world, crouded within limits either small or overcharged, and steeped in the vices which that situation generates.

I have great hope that some patriotic spirit will, at a favorable moment, call it up, and make it the key-stone of the arch of our government.