Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend.
John AdamsRead
The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.
Interpretation
The militia should be governed by laws to ensure its purpose is to uphold those laws.
John Adams emphasizes that the militia, a military force raised from the civilian population, must operate under legal frameworks to ensure it serves its primary role: supporting and upholding the laws of the land. This quote reflects the importance of lawful authority and order in the functioning of military institutions, preventing them from acting independently or against the interests of justice and society.
In practice
A speaker at a law conference might use this quote to emphasize the rule of law in military affairs.
Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend.
Property monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind.
Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.
I didn't have to scramble up and down the ladder from despair to euphoria anymore, trying to convince myself that life was either painful and terrible or joyous and wonderful. The simple truth was that life was both. p 214
The man whose action habitually bears the stamp of his mind is a genius, but the greatest genius is not always equal to himself, or he would cease to be human.
Reason in man is rather like God in the world.
He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.
Sometimes I feel that I am destined always to be offstage whenever the main action occurs. That God has made me the victim of some cosmic practical joke, by assigning me little more than a walk-on part in my own life. Or sometimes I feel that my role is simply to be a spectator to other people's stories, and always to wander away at the most important moment, drifiting into the kitchen to make a cup of tea just as the denouement unfolds.
I often thought my gravestone would say, 'Here lies Gandalf. He came out,'
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