“Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.”

“Posterity -- you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”

“Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”

“Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. Aristotle speaks plainly to this purpose, saying, 'that the institution of youth should be accommodated to that form of government under which they live; forasmuch as it makes exceedingly for the preservation of the present government, whatsoever it be.”

“You go on, I presume, with your latin Exercises: and I wish to hear of your beginning upon Sallust who is one of the most polished and perfect of the Roman Historians, every Period of whom, and I had almost said every Syllable and every Letter is worth Studying.In Company with Sallust, Cicero, Tacitus and Livy, you will learn Wisdom and Virtue. You will see them represented, with all the Charms which Language and Imagination can exhibit, and Vice and Folly painted in all their Deformity and Horror.You will ever remember that all the End of study is to make you a good Man and a useful Citizen.—This will ever be the Sum total of the Advice of your affectionate Father,John Adams”

“You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”

“A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”