John Quincy Adams, Oration at Plymouth (1802). Misquoted from Berkeley on inside cover of an early edition of Bancroft's History of United States.

Westward the star of empire takes its way.

— John Quincy Adams on Progress

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Westward the star of empire takes its way." in the context of "John Quincy Adams, Oration at Plymouth (1802). Misquoted from Berkeley on inside cover of an early edition of Bancroft's History of United States." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Progress" (Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations: Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 634-36.) 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.