John Knox Witherspoon (1723–94) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish Common Sense Realism, and while president of the College of New Jersey, became an influential figure in the development of the United States’ national character. Politically active, Witherspoon was a delegate from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress and a signatory to the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence. He was the only active clergyman and the only college president to sign the Declaration. Later, he signed the Articles of Confederation and supported ratification of the Constitution. In 1789 he was Convening Moderator of the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John Witherspoon
Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.
—John Witherspoon
Topics: Reading
Men talk in raptures of youth and beauty, wit and sprightliness; but after seven years of union, not one of them is to be compared to good family management, which is seen at every meal, and felt every hour in the husband’s purse.
—John Witherspoon
There is scarcely anything more harmless than political or party malice. It is best to leave it to itself. Opposition and contradiction are the only means of giving it life or duration.
—John Witherspoon
Topics: Politics
Never rise to speak till you have something to say; and when you have said it, cease.
—John Witherspoon
Topics: Speech
It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man.
—John Witherspoon
Topics: Anxiety, Fear
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