“Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!”

—  John Adams

John Quincy Adams, his son, in a speech at Plymouth, Massachusetts (1802-12-22).
Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!" by John Adams?
John Adams photo
John Adams 202
2nd President of the United States 1735–1826

Related quotes

John Quincy Adams photo

“Think of your forefathers and of your posterity.”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)

He here is translating a phrase of Calgacus in Vita Agricolae by Tacitus : Et majores et posteros cogitate.
Oration at Plymouth (1802)
Context: The barbarian chieftain, who defended his country against the Roman invasion, driven to the remotest extremity of Britain, and stimulating his followers to battle, by all that has power of persuasion upon the human heart, concludes his exhortation by an appeal to these irresistible feelings — "Think of your forefathers and of your posterity."

Tacitus photo

“Think of your forefathers and posterity.”
Et maiores vestros et posteros cogitate.

Source: Agricola (98), Chapter 32

Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

“Learn to use your emotions to think, not think with your emotions.”

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
Source: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Poul Anderson photo
Ayn Rand photo
Benjamin Disraeli photo

“He seems to think that posterity is a pack-horse, always ready to be loaded.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Speech in the House of Commons (3 June 1862)
1860s

Tom Brokaw photo
U.G. Krishnamurti photo

“You think when you don't want to do anything. Thinking is a poor alternative to acting. Your thinking is consuming all your energy. Act, don't think!”

U.G. Krishnamurti (1918–2007) Indian philosopher

As quoted in A Taste of Death: Thirty Days with U.G. in Gstaad, Switzerland http://www.scribd.com/doc/3101240/A-Taste-of-Death (1995) by Mahesh Bhatt. Bhatt precedes this quote with the observation "You are what you do, not what you say you want to do" which has sometimes been misquoted as part of Krishnamurti's statement.

Christopher Paolini photo

“When your thinking is brilliant, you will be brilliant, but if your thinking is not brilliant you will not be brilliant, no matter how brilliant you may think you are.”

Christian D. Larson (1874–1962) Prolific author of metaphysical and New Thought books

Source: Your Forces and How to Use Them (1912), Chapter 7, p. 114

Related topics