“I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature,
and that power whether vested in many or few is ever grasping…”
and that power whether vested in many or few is ever grasping…”
Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818)
Wife and counselor of President John Adams
….and here’s more from the letter she wrote to John in 1775:
“The great fish swallow up the small and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.”
Source:
David G. McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 101.
David G. McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 101.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2014
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