Famous Quotes

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms....The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-Thomas Jefferson

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
-Thomas Jefferson

"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our` servant, not our master!"
-Thomas Jefferson

"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."
-Thomas Jefferson
"Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks." -Thomas Jefferson

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day, but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, unalterable through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery."
-Thomas Jefferson

"False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from man because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, will respect the less important arbitrary ones....and which, if strictly obeyed would put a end to personal liberty?....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 a armed man."
-Thomas Jefferson

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free,
it expects what never was and never will be...
The people cannot be safe without information.
Where the press is free and every man is able to read, all is safe."
-Thomas Jefferson

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective ways of preserving peace."
-Pres. George Washington

"Government is not reason: it is not eloquence; it is a force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
-Pres. George Washington

"I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire

"Experience has shown that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
-Thomas Jefferson

"That the said constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience or to prevent the people of the united states, who are peaceable Citizens, from keeping their own arms."
-Samuel Adams

"If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
-Samuel Adams

"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world as well as property. Horrid mischief would ensue when the law-abiding(are) deprived the use of them."
-Thomas Paine

" These are the times that try mens souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. 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

"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in their struggle for independence."
-C.A. Beard

"I heartily accept the motto, that the government is best which governs the least."
-Henry David Thoreau

"They that give up liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety."
-Benjamin Franklin

"The very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for 'tis a wise and true saying, that one sword often keeps another in the scabbard. The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent."
-Benjamin Franklin

" The constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation....Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust their people with arms."
-James Madison

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole body of the people are armed and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, in any pretense, raised in the United States."
-Noah Webster

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

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
-Alexander Hamilton

"Why stand we here idle? 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

" If all Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government."
-Pres. Dwight Eisenhower

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me also remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"
-Barry Goldwater

"There exists a law, not written down anywhere but inborn in our heart; a law that comes to us not by training or custom or reading but from nature itself, if our lives are endangered, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right."
-Roman Orator Cicero