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This series is chock full of fantastic quotes uttered by a number of major players.
From Ep 5 - "It is no small thing to build a new world gentlemen." - Ben Franklin
What are some of your favorites?
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(69 of 69)
Apr 26, 2008 12:56 PM
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> JA looking at the famous portrait of George
> Washington in the tattered White House says: (not
> exactly quoted I'm sure) "The old man is either
> welcoming us or showing us the way out."
I also liked that one. Gave me a laugh!
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3/31/08
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(68 of 69)
Apr 26, 2008 3:53 AM
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JA looking at the famous portrait of George Washington in the tattered White House says: (not exactly quoted I'm sure) "The old man is either welcoming us or showing us the way out."
Another quirky and funny line between Abigail and John referred to the "toothless" George Washington and non-crippled JA. Notice both sitting with a portrait above that looks similar to that of Abigail seen later. I thought it was painted later, refused by the White House, and housed at Peacefield with the portrait of John Adams. Was this an overlooked "blooper" or a portrait of someone else?
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(67 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 8:00 PM
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> "I'm increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs
> exclusively to the living, and that one generation
> has no more right to bind another to its laws and
> judgments than one independent nation has a right to
> command another." ~ Jefferson
>
>
Excellent Katie. I was just trying to quote this one. Damn we are smart. 
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(66 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 7:42 PM
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"I'm increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living, and that one generation has no more right to bind another to its laws and judgments than one independent nation has a right to command another." ~ Jefferson
"But surely, the Constitution, as it did for the one we wrote for our own states, is meant to establish the stability and the longterm legality essential to the continuation of civilized society." ~ John Adams
"Yes possibly. But I fear it could prove a breach in the integrity of our revolutionary ideals through which will pour the forces of reaction." ~ Jefferson
"Mr. Jefferson's pet topic is not the artful arrangement of political power, but the cordoning off of a space in which no power exists at all! You sir, are a walking contradiction!" ~ John Adams
"We're ALL contradictions, Mr. Adams." ~ Franklin
"Yes indeed, but what is government, ultimately, but the putting into effect the lessons we've learned in dealing with the contradictions in our own characters." ~ John Adams
"You've a disconcerting lack of faith in your fellow man, Mr. A. And in yourself, if I may say." ~ Jefferson
"Yes, and you display a dangerous excess of faith in your fellow man, Mr. Jefferson." ~ John Adams
"Well, I'm sure we'll disagree a great deal. Our country is founded on the right to disagree. Still, we must prevail, if only to prove Mr. Dickinson wrong, that we will not tear ourselves asunder after the defeat of our common enemy." ~ Franklin
"We've come too far to be undone by petty rivalries." ~ John Adams
"It is no small thing to build a new world, gentlemen." ~ Franklin
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(65 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 7:31 PM
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"John, you have overburdened your argument with ostentatious erudition." ~ Abigail
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"What of you, Mr. Adams? Do you think you're going to be safe from this rabble?"
"You forget Mr. Preston, you've just been acquitted by a jury of New England men."
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"My father was a shoemaker. My mother could not read. Yet I have been singled out by a King of England." ~ John Adams
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"People are in need of strong governance, Abigail. Restraint. Most men are weak and evil and vicious." ~ John Adams
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(64 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 12:21 PM
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Ginna -- I'm so pleased to have blown someone away! (metaphorically that is  )
In answer to your question, I do still send birthday, sympathy and thank you cards. Unless I'm late and then I resort to the electronic kind. Of course none of them have the elegant words of Adams or Jefferson.
I hope TJ and Adams meant what they said in those letters. I know that my oldest friends are very dear to me because we've been through so much together. Their friendship gives me comfort. I love TJ's and Adams' friendship felt the same way.
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(63 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 11:26 AM
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> When did it become culturally inappropriate for men
> to show such affection for each other?
Goood question. I suppose it stems from the belief that if men were to show "affection" to another man, it is perceived to be unmanly or even hints of homosexual undertones. Unless the men are homosexual, that is unfair but that is what has happened in our society today. It's just not easy for a man to show innocent affection, admiration or respect to another man without someone snickering or whispering in the background.
> Another concern I have developed after watching this
> series. How will history preserve our emails? They
> won't have the letters millions of letters to refer
> to when writing our history. Our correspondence is
> now ephemeral.
Your words just blew me away there, because of course you are 100% correct. Email is so convenient but it isn't personal - nothing is as personal and enduring as a hand-written letter. Another very sad fact of our times it seems.
Out of curiosity - do you (or anyone else who wishes to respond) still write letters or send paper greeting cards?
--
*********
Host_Ginna
HBO Forums Host
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(62 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 10:53 AM
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Thanks for those quotes. They are so personal and show such depth of feeling.
When did it become culturally inappropriate for men to show such affection for each other?
Another concern I have developed after watching this series. How will history preserve our emails? They won't have the letters millions of letters to refer to when writing our history. Our correspondence is now ephemeral.
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(61 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 7:57 AM
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I wish these two quotes had been in the final episode:
"I am sure that I really know many, many, things, and none more surely than that I love you with all my heart, and pray for the continuance of your life..." TJ to JA letter dated Aug. 15. 1820.
"The little strength of mind and the considerable strength of body that I once possessed appear to be all gone, but while I breathe I shall be your friend." JA to TJ letter dated Feb. 25, 1825.
A unique friendship between two unique men.
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(60 of 69)
Apr 23, 2008 1:17 AM
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From Adams on his viewing of Trumbull's painting of the signing of the Declaration: "Contrary to your tranquil scene, Mr. Trumbull, your subjects were scurrying in and out of Philadelphia all summer long, affixing their signatures to Mr. Jefferson's - hallowed parchment - whenever they happened to be in town."
I liked this because his pause before saying "hallowed parchment" and the somewhat scornful way he said it demonstrated how Adams really felt about the Declaration - he did not feel it was of as great an importance as was later attached to it. He thought the vote for independence on July 2 was more important, and that July 2, not July 4 when the Declaration was approved, should be celebrated.
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(59 of 69)
Apr 22, 2008 9:06 PM
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Thanks Thirteen31, that was a fantatsic find!
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(58 of 69)
Apr 22, 2008 8:26 PM
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I found the original quote from Adams. Interestingly, the "little things" he's focusing on are not a flower so much the written word:
"I never delighted much in contemplating commas and colons, or in spelling or measuring syllables; but now?if I attempt to look at these little objects, I find my imagination, in spite of all my exertions, roaming in the Milky Way, among the nebulae, those mighty orbs, and stupendous orbits of suns, planets, satellites, and comets, which compose the incomprehensible universe; and if I do not sink into nothing in my own estimation, I feel an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees, in adoration of the power that moves, the wisdom that directs, the benevolence that sanctifies this wonderful whole."
This was combined with another quote from Adams who saw his beloved fruit trees ruined by a surprise ice storm, yet found the scene beautiful rather than depressing:
"A rain had fallen from some warmer region in the skies when the cold here below was intense to an extreme. Every drop was frozen wherever it fell in the trees, and clung to the limbs and sprigs as if it had been fastened by hooks of steel. The earth was never more universally covered with snow, and the rain had frozen upon a crust on the surface which shone with the brightness of burnished silver. The icicles on every sprig glowed in all the luster of diamonds. Every tree was a chandelier of cut glass. I have seen a queen of France with 18 millions of livres of diamonds upon her person and I declare that all the charms of her face and figure added to all the glitter of her jewels did not make an impression on me equal to that presented by every shrub. The whole world was glittering with precious stones."
So these are the original quotes that the show "riffed" off in order to create that wonderful scene.
--
You are the proud owner of 150 pieces of paper!
--
Edited by Thirteen31 at 04/22/2008 5:29 PM PDT
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(57 of 69)
Apr 22, 2008 5:55 PM
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"If it were moved and seconded that two and three make five, we should spend two whole days debating the matter, and only then pass a resolution in the affirmative!" ~ John Adams
"Oh if you had seen them, Abigail. An army of plain country boys, with no experience in professional soldiering. Their faces shining like the sun through a church window. We must support them, with guns and leadership and faith in what they do."
"Say that, John. Say that to the congress." ~ Abigail
"I sit in judgment of no man's religion, Mr. Dickinson, but your Quaker sensibilities do us a gross disservice. It is one thing to turn the other cheek, but to lie down on the ground like a snake and crawl toward the seat of power in abject surrender, is quite another thing and I have no stomach for it. No stomach at all." ~ John Adams
"Diplomacy is seduction in another guise, Mr. Adams. One improves with practice." ~ Ben Franklin
"This war touches people that your congress holds in the same contempt that King George reserves for the people of Boston. I mean women, and yes slaves too, for that matter. Though I'm sure you wish I would not mention that subject, as it might upset your southern friends." ~ Abigail to John
"Slavery is an abomination and must be loudly proclaimed as such, but I own that I nor any other man has any immediate solution to the problem." ~ Jefferson
John Adams screencaps
Stephen Dillane screencaps
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(56 of 69)
Apr 22, 2008 4:54 PM
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What were the two final voice overs?
First by AA and then by JA , I thought they were gems,
where did they come from? Their letters?
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(55 of 69)
Apr 21, 2008 6:28 PM
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This one made me spit with laughter wondering which came first, JA to Trumbull or Bentsen to Quayle:
JA:
You, Mr. Trumbull, are no Rubens.
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