Sayings
Issue #95 Posted  May, 2015

“The duty of a Patriot is to protect his country from its government.” -- Thomas Paine

"Everyone wants to live at the expenses of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone else." -- Frederic Bastiat

"In the next place, the state governments are, by the very theory of the constitution, essential constituent parts of the general government. They can exist without the latter, but the latter cannot exist without them." -- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

"[R]eligion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society." -- John Adams

"You're only paranoid if you're wrong." -- Unknown

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to The Republican Citizens of Washington County, Maryland, 1809

"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." -- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

"The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity." -- George Washington

"Liberty grows from the will of the people to be free of interference from government in their persons and in their affairs. Today a majority of the people in this Country receive all or part of their livelihood from the government. They LIKE it that way. Some people have lived that way for GENERATIONS. They would no more think of biting the hand that feeds them than shooting themselves in the foot. They neither know nor care to know that there ain't no free lunch. Politicians rob Peter to buy Paul's vote, and Paul approves. Peter is outnumbered, and barring Divine intervention, the last best hope for the freedom of Man has been squandered. When the will to be free ceases to exist the tree of Liberty is dead, and no amount of the Blood of Tyrants and Patriots will help." -- James R.

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?" -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781

"The reluctance to use force will always be viewed as weakness and will eventually result in the need to use more force than would have been required in the first instance." -- paraphrased from the U.S. Marine Corps Small Wars Manual, circa 1935

"The true liberty of the press is amply secured by permitting every man to publish his opinion; but it is due to the peace and dignity of society, to inquire into the motives of such publications, and to distinguish between those which are meant for use and reformation, and with an eye solely to the public good, and those which are intended merely to delude and defame. To the latter description, it is impossible that any good government should afford protection and impunity." -- Thomas McKean, Respublica v. Oswald, 1788

"Our conflict is not likely to cease so soon as every good man would wish. The measure of iniquity is not yet filled; and unless we can return a little more to first principles, and act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will -- or -- what may be the issue of the contest. Speculation -- peculation -- engrossing -- forestalling -- with all their concomitants, afford too many melancholy proofs of the decay of public virtue; and too glaring instances of its being the interest and desire of too many, who would wish to be thought friends, to continue the war." -- George Washington, letter to James Warren, 1779

"More and more I'm recognizing a distinction between the perpetually enraged FSA blacks (and whites), and blacks (and whites) like "us". Recognizing "our" type is not too difficult. If you don't require me to support you, welcome to the BBQ and here's a beer. If that's not the case, phuque off." -- Gary C.

"My generation is much different than the current generation. For example, my generation doesn't understand micro-aggression, trigger points, or self-esteem training. The current generation doesn't understand respect for tradition, self-responsibility, or gender-specific behavior." -- Gary C.

"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." -- Chief Tecumseh (Posted in memory of Terry McClure)

"No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was every more clouded than the present! Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm." -- George Washington (1786

"In a despotic government, the only principle by which the tyrant who is to move the whole machine means to regulate and manage the people is fear, by the servile dread of his power. But a free government, which of all others is far the most preferable, cannot be supported without virtue." -- Samuel Williams, A Discourse on the Love of our Country, 1774

"Men should be trained for war and women for the recreation of the warrior. All else is folly." -- Nietzche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

"Republican believe that every day is The Forth of July. Democrats believe that every day is April the 15th." -- Ronald Reagan

"The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, anytime, and with utter recklessness." -- Robert A. Heinlein

"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government." -- Alexander Hamilton

"What country can preserve (its) liberties if (its) rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters." -- Daniel Webster

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -- Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer XVIII

"[A] rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Marquis de Lafayette, 1823

"[T]he people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them." -- Zacharia Johnson

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison, Federalist No. 10

"There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war." -- George Washington, Fifth Annual Message, 1793

"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual..." -- Thomas Jefferson (1785)

"The opinion has been very general, that, in order to obtain the blessings of a good government, a sacrifice must be made of a part of our natural liberty. I am much inclined to believe, that, upon examination, this opinion will prove to be fallacious." --James Wilson, Lectures on Law, 1790

"But while property is considered as the basis of the freedom of the American yeomanry, there are other auxiliary supports; among which is the information of the people. In no country, is education so general -- in no country, have the body of the people such a knowledge of the rights of men and the principles of government. This knowledge, joined with a keen sense of liberty and a watchful jealousy, will guard our constitutions and awaken the people to an instantaneous resistance of encroachments." -- Noah Webster, On Education of Youth in America, 1790

"The government owns the patent on stupid. It's sold under license to all and sundry." -- Steve P.

"A Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is a power without right." -- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence." -- John Adams

"My ardent desire is, and my aim has been ... to comply strictly with all our engagements foreign and domestic; but to keep the United States free from political connections with every other Country. To see that they may be independent of all, and under the influence of none. In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves and not for others; this, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home." -- George Washington, letter to Patrick Henry, 1775

"If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude and all the other qualities which ennoble the character of a nation, and fulfill the ends of Government be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of Liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre, which it has never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set, which can not but have the most favorable influence on the rights of Mankind." -- James Madison (1783)

"Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions - The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny mediated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth." -- George Washington, General Orders, 1776

"The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination—"that government of the people, by the people, for the people," should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in that battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves." -- H. L. Mencken

"Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands." -- Thomas Jefferson

"History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened." -- Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations

"A tyrant fears a mediocre marksman with a lions heart far more then an outstanding marksman with a slaves heart. People will never be free until they stop thinking like slaves. The litmus test is how much people believe they have to ASK for permission from their own public servants. The very act of asking (and begging) is 100% proof that someone thinks like a a slave. Their admission to this fact is irrelevant. Only their behavior is relevant. Most slaves bost proudly that they are 'free" and their master publicly agree. But, they still go on begging permission and paying for their own destruction, as the real masters keep telling how free they are, and how much they are blessed to have the masters take their freedoms and money." -- Cas G.

"We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others." -- Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address, 1805

"A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts." -- James Madison

"When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen; and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in the happy hour when the establishment of American Liberty, upon the most firm and solid foundations shall enable us to return to our Private Stations in the bosom of a free, peacefully and happy Country." -- George Washington, address to the New York Legislature, 1775

"Remember, that Time is Money." --Benjamin Franklin

"It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf." -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, 1776

"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." --Thomas Jefferson

"Illustrious examples are displayed to our view, that we may imitate as well as admire. Before we can be distinguished by the same honors, we must be distinguished by the same virtues. What are those virtues? They are chiefly the same virtues, which we have already seen to be descriptive of the American character -- the love of liberty, and the love of law. But law and liberty cannot rationally become the objects of our love, unless they first become the objects of our knowledge." -- James Wilson, Of the Study of the Law in the United States

"Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression." -- James Madison

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat. " -- Albert Einstein, explaining radio

"When we have a culture which cares more about the right to kill its own young in secret and the right of a man to publicly proclaim buggery with pride and shamelessness, and condemns those who wish only to be left alone, and those who take the initiative to protect themselves and their loved ones and property, we're done for." -- Mark H.

"We shall have lost something vital and beyond price on the day when the state denies us the right to resort to force." -- Justice Brandeis

"The germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; an irresponsible body, (for impeachment is scarcely a scarecrow) working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidated into one." -- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Charles Hammond, 1821

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -- Thomas Paine, American Crisis, No. 1, 1776

"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants." -- Alexander Hamilton (1787)

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." -- George Washington, letter to Edmund Randolph, 1795

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." -- James Madison

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