What Horrid Creatures We Men Are

"that we cannot be virtuous without murdering one another?" John Adams

War necessarily brings with it some virtues, and great and heroic virtues, too. What horrid creatures we men are, that we cannot be virtuous without murdering one another?

John Adams, 1812, in a letter to Benjamin Rush

clipped December 21, 2004

Collection: American History - Politics and World Affairs