Quote of the Day (Abigail Adams, on Learning)

“Learning is not attained by chance--it must be sought for with ardour and attended to with diligence.”—Abigail Adams (1744-1818), future U.S. First Lady, to son (and future U.S. President) John Quincy Adams, letter of May 8, 1780

(Portrait of Abigail Adams in 1766, by Benjamin Blythe)

Quote of the Day (John Adams, on His Sacrifices on Behalf of Freedom)

“Is it not intollerable, that the opening Spring, which I should enjoy with my Wife and Children upon my little Farm, should pass away, and laugh at me, for labouring, Day after Day, and Month after Month, in a Conclave [i.e., the Continental Congress], Where neither Taste, nor Fancy, nor Reason, nor Passion, nor Appetite can be gratified?

“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. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”—John Adams, letter to wife Abigail Adams, April 26, 1777