“Education makes a greater difference between man and man, than nature has made between man and brute.”

— John Adams, Letter to Abigail Adams (29 October 1775)

About John Adams

1735 – 1826

Second President of the United States and a leading figure of the American Revolution.

“There is, in the human breast, a social affection, which extends to our whole species.”

“A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.”

“No man is entirely free from weakness and imperfection in this life.”

“Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

“Education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful.”

“We learn our lessons, not for life, but for the lecture room.”

“From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books.”

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”

“Be attentive therefore, according to the instruction of the Gospel, to learn obedience from the lily and the bird.”