John Quincy Adams Quotes

I continually remind myself to live by a code. It's very important to me. I've got a bad temper.

My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.

I was a bit challenged when I was younger to stay on the right path.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.

Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.

I have high standards I hold myself to, besides Christianity.

Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.

The passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

A personal code of conduct that you follow is far better than a social code of conduct that you are forced to follow.

I think guilt can be good to a small degree, keep you on the right path.

Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience.

Virtue does not consist in the absence of the passions, but in the control of them.

The passions are the gales of life; and it is religion only that can prevent them from rising into a tempest.

Examine from time to time what are the dominant passions of your soul, and having ascertained this, mold your life, so that in thought, word, and deed you may as far as possible counteract them.

In reality, moral rules are directions for running the human machine. Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine. That is why these rules at first seem to be constantly interfering with our natural inclinations.

Even those who have the weakest souls could acquire absolute mastery over all their passions if we employed sufficient ingenuity in training and guiding them.

The way to avoid evil is not by maiming our passions, but by compelling them to yield their vigor to our moral nature.

A disciplined conscience is a man's best friend. It may not be his most amiable, but it is his most faithful monitor.

Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?

A man who cannot control his temper is not very likely to control his passions.

The human character, we believe, requires in general constant and immediate control to prevent its being biased from right by the seductions of self-love.

Unless virtue guide us our choice must be wrong.

Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.

I am, as I have always been, of the opinion that while the niceties of normal moral constraints should be our guides, they must not be our masters.

Keep your passions in check, but beware of giving your reason free rein.