Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams (10 July 1775)
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How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking!

— Abigail Adams on Ambition

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking!" in the context of "Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams (10 July 1775)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Ambition" (A) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Abigail Adams

About Abigail Adams

Abigail Smith Adams (November 11, 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and is retrospectively perceived as the second First Lady of the United States; the term was not coined until after she had died. She was also the mother of John Quincy Adams.