When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed at Bunker Hill, Abigail's response was to write a letter to her husband and include these words, "My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

David McCullough
When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed...
When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed...
When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed...
About This Quote

Abigail Adams was a prominent figure in the political life of her country, but she also had personal tragedies that took time to heal. To her, the loss of one friend at the battle of Bunker Hill was insufficient to keep her heart from bursting. She did not have the luxury of being able to cry out over the loss of one friend, but she did have the ability to express her grief in writing.

Source: John Adams

Some Similar Quotes
  1. You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth. - William W. Purkey

  2. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. - Unknown

  3. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. - Elie Wiesel

  4. This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like... - Marilyn Monroe

  5. When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always. - Mahatma Gandhi

More Quotes By David McCullough
  1. To me, history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me, it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is."; NEH 2003 Jefferson Lecturer interview profile]

  2. Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave.

  3. Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before...

  4. Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard.", July/Aug. 2002, Vol. 23/No. 4)

  5. No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.", NEH Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities 2003)

Related Topics