| QUOTES by Our Founding Fathers |
| I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. -John Adams Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people. -John Adams Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can. -Samuel Adams It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. -Samuel Adams The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. -Samuel Adams We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. -Benjamin Franklin Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security. -Benjamin Franklin Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God. -Benjamin Franklin Where liberty is, there is my country. -Benjamin Franklin In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. -Alexander Hamilton The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right. -Alexander Hamilton Give me liberty or give me death. -Patrick Henry The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactionsof their rulers may be concealed from them. -Patrick Henry Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. -Patrick Henry Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? -Patrick Henry The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none. -Andrew Jackson I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office. -Andrew Jackson Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and its conscious that he gains protection while he gives it. -Andrew Jackson If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword. -Andrew Jackson All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary. -Andrew Jackson The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble. -Andrew Jackson The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power. -Andrew Jackson The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key... and bolt the door at once. -Andrew Jackson Those who expect to reap the blessings of liberty must undergo the fatigues of supporting it. -Thomas Jefferson The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe -Thomas Jefferson It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. -Thomas Jefferson 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. -Thomas Jefferson My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. -Thomas Jefferson No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. -Thomas Jefferson 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. -Thomas Jefferson The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. -Thomas Jefferson To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. -Thomas Jefferson '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.' -Thomas Jefferson The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. -James Madison Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government. James Madison If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. -James Madison The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world. -James Madison The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived. -James Madison We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties. -James Madison Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions. -James Madison The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. -James Madison The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. -James Madison Lead, follow, or get out of the way. -Thomas Paine That government is best which governs least. -Thomas Paine The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves. -George Washington The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. -George Washington To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. -George Washington If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. -George Washington Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth. -George Washington AND OTHER WISE MEN.... The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it. -Woodrow Wilson 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. -Ronald Reagan All great change in America begins at the dinner table. Ronald Reagan All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk. Ronald Reagan Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources. Ronald Reagan Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. Ronald Reagan Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves. Ronald Reagan If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. Ronald Reagan The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Ronald Reagan The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. Ronald Reagan There comes a time when deceit and defiance must be seen for what they are. At that point, a gathering danger must be directly confronted. At that point, we must show that beyond our resolutions is actual resolve. Dick Cheney It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. -Dick Cheney You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." - Adrian Rogers, 1931 |