QuotesCosmos
Attributed in The Rebirth of a Nation : With a Bill of Rights for America's Third Century (1978) by Robert S. Minor, p. 10; this is a paraphrase of a statement by his father John Adams in a letter to his mother Abigail Adams (27 April 1777): "Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it".
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Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.

— John Quincy Adams

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." in the context of "Attributed in The Rebirth of a Nation : With a Bill of Rights for America's Third Century (1978) by Robert S. Minor, p. 10; this is a paraphrase of a statement by his father John Adams in a letter to his mother Abigail Adams (27 April 1777): "Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it"." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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

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#John Quincy Adams#generation#posterity#preserve#freedom#never#much#cost#hope
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.