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.

— Paul C. Nagel

Shakespeare's work had a liberating influence.

— Paul C. Nagel

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

— Paul C. Nagel

The aging Adams delightedly describes being surrounded by books on so many different subjects that interested him as "baits on fishhooks".

— Paul C. Nagel

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.

— Paul C. Nagel

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.

— Paul C. Nagel

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.

— 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.

— Paul C. Nagel

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

— Paul C. Nagel

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

— Paul C. Nagel