All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." - Meaning and context.">
Letter to William Eustis (22 June 1809), published in Writings of John Quincy, Adams (1914), The Macmillan company.

All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.

— John Quincy Adams

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." in the context of "Letter to William Eustis (22 June 1809), published in Writings of John Quincy, Adams (1914), The Macmillan company." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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

About John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman who served as the sixth president of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He also served as a diplomat, a senator and member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. John Quincy Adams was the son of former President John Adams and Abigail Adams.