Posted on Saturday, 28th June 2008 by Patrick Dorwin
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
–Patrick Henery
“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
‘No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
–Thomas Jefferson
Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. The church, the plow, the prairie wagon and citizen’s firearms are indelibly related. From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. Every corner of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 99/100 percent of them by their silence indicate they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good. When firearms go, all goes— we need them every hour.
–George Washington
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.
–George Washington
‘Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
–Benjamin Franklin
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.
–Thomas Jefferson
‘The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.
–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
“If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
–Samuel Adams
“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”
–Thomas Jefferson
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
–George Washington
“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
“That government is best which governs least.”
–Thomas Paine
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
–Thomas Paine
We’re in a war, dammit! We’re going to have to offend somebody!”
–John Adams
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
–Thomas Jefferson
‘The great object is that every man be armed.
–Patrick Henry
To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.
–Richard Henry Lee
‘The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
–Thomas Jefferson
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
–Abraham Lincoln
“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.”
–Patrick Henry
‘The thing that separates the American Christian from every other person on earth is the fact that he would rather die on his feet, than live on his knees!
–George Washington
“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
–Benjamin Franklin
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.
–Thomas Jefferson
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
–Thomas Jefferson
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.
–Edward Abbey
“Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. 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
All men having power ought to be mistrusted
–James Madison
‘When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.–Thomas Jefferson
“If guns cause crime, all mine are defective.”
–Ted Nugent
Advertisements… contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
–Thomas Jefferson
“Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”
–Colon Powell
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
–Margaret Mead
In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.
–Charles de Gaulle
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
–George Orwell
“Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master.”
–Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption.”
–James Garfield
The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism, but under the name Liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program until America will one day be a Socialist nation without knowing how it happened.
–Norman Thomas
A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
–Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, the second of the ten basic steps
and always remember:
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
–John Adams
In other words:
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
–Aldous Huxley
Posted in Home | Comments (15)
15 Responses to “I love a good quote, and with the recent Supreme Court ruling, a few came to mind”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:38 am
After reading this collection of quotes it’s evident to me that our founding fathers intended the 2nd ammendment to apply to individual rights, not collective rights.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:59 am
A few of this country’s very successful coaches have also expressed many words of wisdom:
Bobby Knight: “A lot of people in the media can’t look at themselves and say ‘Maybe I’m wrong’, but they can always tell what’s wrong with someone else.â€
Vince Lombardi: “The quality of a man’s life is directly proportional to his commitment to excellence.”
June 28th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
“Its easy to grin, when your ship comes in, and you know you’ve got the stock market beat. But the man worthwhile, is the man who can smile, when his shorts are too tight in the seat.”
Theodore “Knight” Knopcha
June 28th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
“If there are degrees of evil, it is hard to say who is the more contemptible: The brute who assumes the right to force the mind of others or the moral degenerate who grants to others the right to force his mind. That is the moral absolute one does not leave open to debate.” — Ayn Rand
June 28th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Yay! Gun rights!
What a brilliant libertarian Thomas Jefferson was.
June 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Then would it not stand that we have abrogated our authority over our Government? We have been reduced to the inconsequential as they have increased their power. This Government has NO fear of the people.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Scott you are right Goverment has no fear of the people. Unless people make themselves heard why should they.
Patrick thank you for the great quotes. As 4th of july is almost here it perfect.What great men started the vision of this country. How we should honor them.
June 28th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Scott, the answer to your question is really quite simple. The government has no fear of the people because the government still has the bigger guns, and the people are afraid to use the civil power that they currently have to hold the government accountable.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
ORV, the same held true some 232 years ago, yet men, and women of conscience found the courage to take their future into their own hands and risk everything in order to live free of English tyranny.
What is happening in Washington today is not so much different. Repressive taxation, infringement upon our individual freedoms, undue regulation of free enterprise has done nothing to advance the American people’s ability to compete in the so called “world economy”, but has in fact held we Americans back while giving other countries unfair advantage under the auspices of raising others standards of living. That is not the American way, and is a clear indication of how far our Government has drifted from the precepts this country was founded on.
The Government can have all of the big guns they want, but if we have raised our children right, they wouldn’t have anyone to use them against the American people.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
These insightful words of the patriots resonate across time, not to be ignored, but to be acted upon.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:09 am
This quote seems a bit out of place with the rest. In the first place, it is literally wrong when you consider the number of US military bases dotted around the world. Further, the US Founding Fathers believed in minimal intervention — just as one man has no right to tell another how to organize his affairs, so one nation has no right to meddle in the political structure of another. However, since those early days, the USA has steadily got into the habit of meddling in other nations affairs, and seems intent on continuing this trend. This has cost US taxpayer’s money, and the money has bought neither friends, nor benefits.
June 29th, 2008 at 7:21 am
The Morning Scramble – 6/29/2008…
Yes, it’s Sunday. As usual, I’m conscious way too early, but not as usual, I’m running with a Scramble…
James Wigderson found yet another place that requires photo ID.
Kevin Fischer issued a call to arms……
June 29th, 2008 at 11:56 am
How enlightening, Tel.
Spoken like a true ostrich.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:00 am
It amazes me that the Federalist Papers are not consulted more than “International Precedent” such as O’Connor wished to do back in the Grutter v. Bollinger case. And why not refer to them, given that they were written by many of the founders?
Those papers leave no doubt as to the intent behind the framers of the Constitution. One does not have to divine to understand.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Thanks for the collection of quotes, Patrick. I agree with Gracelynn and others in saying it is very appropriate to be reminded of them as we approach this July 4th.
The US of today is a far cry from the US of the late 1700′s. Many in this country have grown fat and lazy in their relatively high standard of living whose most vexing daily concerns stem from narcissistic, or self-centered, worries of fashion, cosmetic appearance, popularity, material possession, etc…With the exception of those serving our country and those who truly support them, we have no idea what it’s like to be confronted with a true fight or dire need.