Paul C. Nagel

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

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

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.

Shakespeare's work had a liberating influence.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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