The author points out that the moral failure of Abigail Adams' brother focused her on disciplining her children, and herself, so that they did not come to the same end.

No sermon I have heard or read touched my heart with half the force of this puppet show. John Quincy Adams

Shakespeare's work had a liberating influence.

John Quincy Adams strove to escape commonplace thoughts.

Rather than pound or a national mind that he believed had been closed by his critics, John Quincy Adams decided to seek a place in the is the esteem of future generations.

The two grappled in the quiet of old-fashioned personal diplomacy.

John Quincy Adams' depression was treated by his aunt with some reliable remedies, first sleep and then compassion. She said, " He was half cared for by having someone to care for him.

The president notices that when he takes off his coat to dig, people take more notice of the visual than they did his preceding remarks.

He must become an apprentice to ordinary life.

I carry too much of the week into the Sabbath , and too little of the Sabbath into the week. John Quincy Adams

Our religion was the religion of a Book. Man must be educated on Earth for Heaven. John Quincy Adams

Abigail Adams is willing to risk her son's exposure to danger in Europe so that he can be at his fathers side, at an age where he can "most benefit from his father's example and precepts.

Foolish defiance was his lifelong response to being ill.

Quite possibly, this depressive illness was the familiar sort that grew from perfectionist expectations.

Ambition distorts even memory itself. John Quincy Adams

Most ardent reformers are accompanied by but equal portion of dullness . John Quincy Adams

When John Quincy Adams in the Netherlands was placed with elementary students and belittled because he did not speak Dutch, either the author or John Adams accuses school authorities of "littleness of soul".

Because he was suffering doubts about himself and his future, Adams may have felt comfort demeaning the behavior and the character of women.

John Quincy Adams, denying his sons permission to come home for college holidays for under-performance: "I would feel nothing but sorrow and shame at your presence.

The aging Adams delightedly describes being surrounded by books on so many different subjects that interested him as "baits on fishhooks".

He had to pause for his usual misgivings.

Adams was in a hurry and ordered his horse drawn carriage to wait for him in front of his house. The horses were spooked before he got in the carriage, and the carriage was destroyed in an accident. Pondering what could have happened to him , Adams retreated to Psalm 20's injunctions against trusting in chariots and horses.

It is the doom of the Christian church to be always distracted with controversy. John Quincy Adams

Amusement and annoyance are, perhaps, both forms of denial.

The world shall retire from me before I shall retire from the world. John Quincy Adams

The life-changing encounters that John Quincy Adams made as an adolescent on his own in Stockholm began with a friendship he struck up at a bookstore.

The author points out that, with life in provincial Washington difficult for those not of independent means, Adams and his wife undervalued the social connections that others found vital. They often made an impression as distant and prideful.

Adams met with a convention on keeping the Sabbath and found the atmosphere surprisingly similar to that in Congress. Legalistic disputes so abounded that he found it difficult to keep order.

My countenance in my old-age does injustice to my heart. John Quincy Adams

Adams looks forward to teaching his granddaughters about planting trees, noting that they already show inclination toward this and need only be encouraged in the naturalist pursuits he has found so healthy.

Since chess was such a painful test of intellect, it affected his emotions too much to be sport.