“And by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.” ~Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776
“I am not apt to be intimidated, you know.” ~Abigail Adams to John Adams, 20 September 1776
“Knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.” ~ Abigail Adams
“He who dies with studying dies in a good cause, and may go to another world much better calculated to improve his talents, than if he had died a blockhead.” ~Abigail Adams
“Posterity who are to reap the Blessings, will scarcly be able to conceive the Hardships and Sufferings of their Ancesstors.” ~Abigail Adams to John Adams, 8 March 1777
“You could not have sufferd more upon your Voyage than I have felt cut of from all communication with you. My Harp has been hung upon the willows, and I have scarcly ever taken my pen to write but the tears have flowed faster than the Ink.” ~Abigail Adams to John Adams, 21 October 1778
“I have never let an opportunity slip without writing to you since we parted, tho you make no mention of having received a line from me; if they are become of so little importance as not to be worth noticeing with your own Hand, be so kind as to direct your Secretary” ~Abigail Adams to John Adams, 12 – 23 November 1778
“These are times in which a Genious would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. Would Cicero have shone so distinguished an orater, if he had not been roused, kindled and enflamed by the Tyranny of Catiline, Millo, Verres and Mark Anthony. The Habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. All History will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruits of experience, not the Lessons of retirement and leisure.” ~Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 19 January 1780
“My Heart and Soul is more American than ever.” ~Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, 3 January 1785