1776 (1972)

Virginia Vestoff: Abigail Adams

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Quotes 

• Abigail : I never asked for more. After all, I am Mrs. John Adams and that's quite enough for one lifetime.

  John Adams : Is it, Abby?

  Abigail : Well, think of it, John, to be married to the man who is always the first in line to be hanged!

• Abigail : Have you forgotten what you used to say to me, I haven't. Commitment, Abby, commitment. There are only two creatures of value on the face of this earth - those with a commitment and those who require the commitment of others. Do you remember John?

• John Adams : Why, Abby? You must tell me what it is. I've always been dissatisfied, I know that. But lately I find that I reek of discontentment. It fills my throat, and it floods my brain. And sometimes I fear there is no longer a dream, but only the discontentment.

  Abigail : Oh, John, can you really know so little about yourself? And can you really think so little of me that you believe I'd marry the man you've described?

• Abigail : [sung]  Compliments of the Concord Ladies Coffee Club, / And the Sisterhood of the Truro Synagogue, / And the Friday Evening Baptist Sewing Circle, / And the Holy Christian Sisters of St. Claire. / All for you, John. / I am as I ever was and ever shall be./ Yours, yours, yours!

  John Adams : [spoken]  Abigail, what's in these kegs?

  Abigail : [sung]  Saltpetre, John!

• John Adams : Abigail, what am I going to do?

  Abigail : Do, John?

  John Adams : I need your help.

  Abigail : You don't usually ask my advice.

  John Adams : Yes, well, there doesn't appear to be anyone else right now.

  Abigail : Very well, John. What is it?

  John Adams : The entire South has just walked out of this Congress. George Washington is on the verge of total annihilation. And the precious cause for which I have labored these several years has come to nothing. And it seems that I'm obnoxious and disliked.

  Abigail : Nonsense, John.

  John Adams : That I'm unwilling to face reality.

  Abigail : Foolishness, John.

  John Adams : That I'm pigheaded.

  Abigail : Ah, well, there you have me, John. I'm afraid you are pigheaded.

  John Adams : Well, yes.

• John Adams : Abigail, I'm very lonely.

  Abigail : Are you, John? As long as you're sending for wives, why not send for your own?

  John Adams : Oh, don't be unreasonable, Madam!

  Abigail : Oh, now I'm unreasonable? You must add that to your list.

  John Adams : List? What list?

  Abigail : The catalogue of my faults you included in your last letter.

  John Adams : They were fondly intended, Madam!

  Abigail : Indeed? That I play at cards badly?

  John Adams : An endearment.

  Abigail : That my posture is crooked?

  John Adams : A complement.

  Abigail : That I read, talk and think too much?

  John Adams : An irony.

  Abigail : That I am pigeon-toed?

  John Adams : Ah, well there you have me. I'm afraid you are pigeon toed.

• John Adams : Come to Philadelphia. Please come.

  Abigail : Oh, thank you, John. I do want to, but you know now it's not possible. The children have the measles.

  John Adams : So you wrote. Tom and little Abby.

  Abigail : Only now it's Quincy and Charles. And it appears the farm here in Braintree is failing, John. The chickens and the geese have all died. And the apples never survive the late frost. How do you suppose she managed to get away?

  John Adams : Well, the winters are softer in Virginia.

  Abigail : And their women, John?

  John Adams : Fit for Virginians, madam, but pale, puny things beside New England girls.

• John Adams : Abigail, in my last letter I wrote you that the king had collected 12,000 German mercenaries to send against us. I asked you to organize the ladies to make saltpeter for gunpowder. Now have you done as I asked?

  Abigail : No, John I have not.

  John Adams : Well why have you not?

  Abigail : Because you neglected to tell us how saltpeter is made.

  John Adams : By treating sodium nitrate with potassium chloride, of course.