Quotes Volume 1

We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. ~ John Adams

Duty is ours, results are God's ... ~ John Quincy Adams

The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. ~ John Quincy Adams; 6th President; July 4, 1821
　
The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country. ~ Calvin Coolidge; 30th President

In free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns ... ~ Benjamin Franklin

An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not to the strong alone. 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. ~ 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 religious, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here. ~ Patrick Henry

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. ~ John Jay; first Supreme Court Justice

It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God …… and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord ……. We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. …… We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown; but we have forgotten God! ~ Abraham Lincoln

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~ Benjamin Franklin

One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. ~ Thomas B. Reed (1886)

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. ~ H.L. Mencken

It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve. ~ Henry George

[On ancient Athens]: In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all –– security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again. ~ Edward Gibbon

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ~ C. S. Lewis

There's no way to rule innocent men. 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 to live without breaking laws. ~ Ayn Rand

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. ~ Alexander Tytler

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. ~ G. Gordon Liddy

The government was set to protect man from criminals –– and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government. ~ Ayn Rand

I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men's rights. ~ Abraham Lincoln

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The war for freedom will never really be won because the price of our freedom is constant vigilance over ourselves and over our Government. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I'm not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I'm not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I'm not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help me. ~ Pastor Father Niemoller (1946)

The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another. ~ Milton Friedman

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed –– unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. ~ James Madison

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

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. ~ Winston Churchill

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. ~ William Pitt (1783)

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed –– and hence clamorous to be led to safety –– by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~ H.L. Mencken

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government that 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. ~ James Madison

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? ~ Thomas Jefferson (1801)

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. ~ Lord Acton (1887)

If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves. ~ Thomas Sowell (1992)

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~ George Bernard Shaw