“[John Adams] had pored over Machiavelli, Bacon, and Descartes; he had reflected on the arguments advanced by Hobbes, Harrington, and Locke; and he was therefore inclined to associate erudition and intellectual acuity with a heightening rather than with a diminution of the force of the passions.”

–Paul Rahe, Republics Ancient and Modern, vol. 3: Inventions of Prudence: Constituting the American Regime

I had better finish this book soon. I’m already sick of typing that title.