President John Adams' Prayer, Carved in White House Marble Mantlepiece

I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but the wise men ever rule under this roof. —John Adams

The first President to occupy the White House, John Adams, wrote his wife, Abigail, on his second night in residence, with this prayer included.  In 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the quote inscribed in marble in the fireplace in our White House State Dining Room.