Samuel Adams — Famous Quotes
“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.”
— Samuel Adams from “The Rights of the Colonists,” which was part of the Boston Pamphlet.
“He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.”
— Samuel Adams in a letter to James Warren on November 4, 1775.
“We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.”
— Samuel Adams in a letter to Samuel Cooper on April 30, 1776.
“Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.”
— Samuel Adams in a speech to the Second Continental Congress on August 1, 1776.
“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
— Samuel Adams, speech to Second Continental Congress on August 1, 1776.
“How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!”
— Samuel Adams in a letter to John Pitts in 1776.
“The Constitution shall never be construed… to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
— Samuel Adams during the debate on the Constitution at the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.