Who is your favorite president?

Thursdays for me are utterly busy, so I was really looking forward to some good discussion tonight at book club. We decided to read "John Adams" during the month of February as to celebrate Presidents' month. I have read this book twice, and enjoyed every page of it. I could give hours of lectures on the book, on this special period of our nation, on this great mind as John Adams was, on his beloved wife and partner, Abigail, on Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Hamilton, and many more. As a result, I was a bit apprehensive going to book club that I would talk too much. I did talk too much, nevertheless I think we had a good discussion over all. Since you wouldn't want to read my lectures in this post, I better share a few quotes that I enjoyed reading from this book:

''I believe nature has assigned each sex its particular duties and sphere of action, and to act well your part, 'there all the honor lies." - Abigail Adams

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives" - John Adams

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth." - John Adams

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." - John Adams

"Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty but it is religion and morality alone that can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand." - John Adams

"You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spectator....We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them." - Abigail Adams

"Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline it, others will not;
if honest men refuse it, others will not." - John Adams

"Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it." - John Adams

"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence." - Abigail Adams

"The habits of a vigorous mind are born in contending with difficulties." - Abigail Adams

"To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words." - Abigail Adams

"Great necessities call out great virtues." - Abigail Adams

What are some of your favorite historical figures? What are some of your favorite quotes?