Quotes
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Edward Abbey Lord Acton It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people to govern others. man is the best, the most responsible, judge of his own advantage. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason. Brock Adams, Director UN Health Organization John Adams The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families. ... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers? There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. John Quincy Adams Posterity--you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.... Samuel Adams It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men. George H Allen Aristotle Richard Armour Marcus Aurelius Saint Augustine Chuck Baldwin Frederic Bastiat When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. Justice Louis Brandeis Harry Browne William F Buckley I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University. John Bunyan Edmund Burke Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing. There is no safety for honest men but by believing all possible evil of evil men. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. People crushed by law, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose, will always be dangerous." The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. George W Bush George Carlin Al Capone M. Cervantes Oswald Chambers G K Chesterton Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world. Winston Churchill We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Never give up. Never give in. Never! Never! Never! Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Ward Cleaver Calvin Coolidge I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. That is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can re-establish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very distinct curtailment of our liberty. I do not want to see any of the people cringing supplicants for the favor of the Government, when they should all be independent masters of their own destiny. Steven Decatur Etienne De La Boetie Everett Dirksen During a political campaign everyone is concerned with what a candidate will do on this or that question if he is elected except the candidate; he's too busy wondering what he'll do if he isn't elected. When a member of the House moves over to the Senate, he raises the IQ of both bodies. When all is said and done, the real citadel of strength of any community is in the hearts and minds and desires of those who dwell there. Benjamin Disraeli Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret. Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. Frederick Douglass William O. Douglas Will Durant It may be true . . . that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country. Albert Einstein The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. Dwight D Eisenhower Jim Elliott T.S.Eliot Rahm Emanuel Juan Enriquez John Farnam Millard Fillmore Footloose, the musical Henry Ford David Foster Benjamin Franklin Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Procrastination is the thief of time. Where Liberty dwells, there is my country. I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. A republic if you can keep it. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote! Milton Friedman Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system. History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. John Galt Mahatma Gandhi Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. Joseph Goebbels The greater the lie, the greater the chance that it will be believed. Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play. Barry M Goldwater A government that is big enough to give you something is big enough to take it all away. I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have. I have little interest in streamlining government or making it more efficient for I mean to reduce its size. Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Horace Greeley Alexander Hamilton The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased. William Henry Harrison Friedrich A. Hayek Robert Heinlein Patrick Henry It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here. Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! - I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Fear is the passion of slaves. The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun. Adolph Hitler Abbie Hoffman Oliver Wendall Holmes Controversy equalizes fools and wise men - and the fools know it. Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked. Sidney Hook Adolph Hitler Milan Hubl, Czech historian Judge Robert H. Jackson David Hume Aldous Huxley Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jefferson Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. (quoting Cesare Beccaria) The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them [the banks], will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. Those who hammer their guns into plows, will plow for those who do not. There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people. On the altar of God, I swear eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the mind of man. One single object ... [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation. The care of human life and happiness, not their destruction, is the legitimate responsibility of a good government Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the limits of the law," because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. What county can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit of resistance. I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not. When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example. Jesus Christ If you love Me, you will obey My commands. Justice Anthony Kennedy John F Kennedy Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Charles Kesler Charles F Kettering Nikita Khrushchev Martin Luther King, Jr. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. A Man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A Man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A Man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true, so we're going to stand up right here. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Robert E Lee Curtis LeMay V.I. Lenin The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them. C.S. Lewis If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. In the moral sphere, every act of justice or charity involves putting ourselves in the other person's place and thus transcending our own competitive particularity. Sinclair Lewis Rush Limbaugh The world's biggest problem is the unequal distribution of capitalism. If there were capitalism everywhere, you wouldn't have food shortages. Abraham Lincoln You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich, you cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong, you cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down, you cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar. Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men. Let us readopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it the practices and policy which harmonize with it. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed it ourselves. As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it. We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. Martin Luther James Madison If tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. The Executive has not right, in any case, to decide the question whether there is or is not cause for declaring war. History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance. John Marshall A legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law. George Mason John C Maxwell H.L. Mencken The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable. Zell Miller Today, we're spending like we're Paris Hilton, regulating like we're Ralph Nader, nationalizing like we're Hugo Chavez, printing money like we're the Weimar Republic and taxing like we're, well, the Democratic Congress. Kenneth Minogue Edward R Murrow Judge Andrew P. Napolitano In the long history of the world, very few generations have been granted the role of defending Freedom in its maximum hour of danger. This is that moment and you are that generation. P J O'Rourke Government does not cause affluence. Citizens of totalitarian countries have plenty of government and nothing of anything else. George Orwell It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Thomas Paine Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us. Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice. Sarah Palin General George S. Patton Ron Paul I accept the definition of patriotism as that effort to resist oppressive state power. The message is clear, if we lose our love of liberty and our manners become corrupt, character is lost and so is the Republic. A casual acceptance of the principle behind high taxation, with an income tax and an inheritance tax, is incompatible with a principled belief in a true Republic. Saint Paul William Penn Plato Alexander Pope Proverbs 29:18 Psalms 91:1–2 Ayn Rand Today, when a concerted effort is made to obliterate this point, it cannot be repeated too often that the Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals -- that it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government -- that it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government. Do not ever say that the desire to "do good" by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives. Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual). Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter. Contrary to the vulgar belief that men are motivated primarily by materialistic considerations, we now see the capitalist system being discredited and destroyed all over the world, even though this system has given men the greatest material comforts. Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others. Ronald Reagan Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again. The one thing our Founding Fathers could not foresee...was a nation governed by professional politicians who had a vested interest in getting reelected. Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take a civil-service exam. The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of the government those things which the CITIZENRY might better provide for themselves. There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit. The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his. I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose & worth to each & every life. It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets. Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them. The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much. Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder. To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions every day, I say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny. One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. . . . Now, the American people, if you put it to them about so...cialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. Roy Rogers Will Rogers Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing - and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even. Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. Theodore Roosevelt George Santayana Carl Schurz Dr Seuss William E. Simon Adam Smith By directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is … led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on "income distribution," the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.” Thomas Sowell People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics. Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction. Josef Stalin Robert Louis Stevenson Steve Symms Publilius Syrus Sir John Templeton Margaret Thatcher Hope is no basis for a defense policy. Henry David Thoreau Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. Leo Tolstoy Harry S Truman A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years. Lao-Tzu Mark Twain Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism is loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the government when it deserves it. Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by really smart people who are just putting us on or is it being run by imbeciles who really mean it. Dr Seuss Al Shanker - president American Federation of Teachers Natan Sharansky George Bernard Shaw Joel Siegel Thomas Sowell You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing. Charles Spurgeon Publilius Syrus Mark Twain Unknown Marquis de Vauvenargues Voltaire Ludwig von Mises There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. George Washington Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the people's liberty's teeth. Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily. John Wayne J.C. Watts Walter Williams Woodrow Wilson John Witherspoon Zig Ziglar |