| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 2718 |
| QUOTATION: | I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!” 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. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Abigail Adams (1744–1818), U.S. matriarch; wife and mother of United States President. Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution, letter dated November 27, 1775 (1875).
In a letter to her husband John Adams, who was away fighting in the American colonies’ revolution against Britain. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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