Samuel Adams Quotes

Liberty is equally desirable to the good and to the bad, to the brave and to the dastardly.

Be virtuous and you will be eccentric.

Virtue is the first title of nobility.

I have seen men incapable of the sciences, but never any incapable of virtue.

A man may be very sincere in good principles, without having good practice.

Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to separate them from each other but in our imagination.

There has never been a man mean and at the same time virtuous.

Void of freedom, what would virtue be?

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent.

There is hardly that person to be found who is not more concerned for the reputation of wit and sense, than honesty and virtue.

Without Virtue there can be no liberty

Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence than the body can live and move without a soul.

Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others. It is not obedience to authority, and while it is often consistent with and reinforced by religious belief, it is not piety.

If the Coastal Republic had believed in the existence of virtue, it could at least have aspired to hypocrisy.

Good moral character is the first essential in a man.

Self-denial is not a virtue; it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.

All the gold upon the earth and all the gold beneath it, does not compensate for lack of virtue.

Virtue is not always amiable.

What is the real relation between happiness and goodness? It is only within a few generations that men have found courage to say that there is none.

But courage without conduct is the virtue of a robber, or a tyrant.

Possessed of courage but devoid of morality, a superior man will make trouble while a small man will be a brigand.

Honesty is nothin' compared to decency.

Nothing of character is really permanent but virtue and personal worth.

No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous.

Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.