John Quincy Adams America Quotations

America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.

America is a friend of freedom everywhere, but a custodian only of our own.

But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow... Like a Coach and six - the swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened, that all may keep an even Pace.

[America's] glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice.

Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America's heart, her benedictions and her prayers.

America... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.