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

I was born for a controversial world, and I cannot escape my destiny. John Quincy Adams

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.

It is the doom of the Christian church to be always distracted with controversy. John Quincy Adams