A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean is worthless. US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016), 2000
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Ronald Reagan
Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its anti-humanity. Eric Hoffer
A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures? Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. Bill Vaughn
A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx. Ronald Reagan
A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either. Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. John Adams
A constitution should not be used as a weapon to end debate. A public policy or a proposed law that is unwise is not necessarily unconstitutional. Even if it is a stupid proposal, it is not necessarily unconstitutional. A constitution gives the people and their elected leaders the opportunity to make many decisions that are unwise or even reckless. When that happens when the government or one of its officials engages in some kind of action that we consider to be wrong -- we should engage in vigorous public debate about it. But we should not use up a constitution by attempting to strike down every ill-conceived act of government or to discredit every unwise official. A constitution is the ultimate weapon, and we preserve that weapon best by using it sparingly and carefully. Dalin Oaks
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage. Attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, a Scottish historian/professor on the fall of the Athenian republic in The Cycle of Democracy, (1778)
A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way. Fisher Ames, known as one of America's "forgotten" Founding Fathers
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
A democracy is three wolves and two sheep voting on what to have for dinner. Author Unknown
A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America for the present generation, and probably produce no small influence on the happiness of society through a long succession of ages to come. George Washington (1778)
"A free country is defined less by what you can vote on and more by what rights are never up for a vote. Frank Fleming
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. Thomas Jefferson (Rights of British America, 1774, ME 1:209, Papers 1:134)
A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular. Adlai E. Stevenson
A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as the are, or even stirs people to anger....That is why freedom of speech, though not absolute...is nevertheless protected against censorship. William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice (Terminiello v. City of Chicago)
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 12 Feb 1779)
A government bureau is the closest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth. Ronald Reagan (1964)
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. Gerald R. Ford
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. Barry Goldwater
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars. Durant, p. 665
A judicial activist is a judge who interprets the Constitution to mean what it would have said if he, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it. Senator Sam Erving (1896-1985)
A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Thomas Ritchie, 25 Dec 1820)
A legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law. Justice John Marshall
All government, of course, is against liberty. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted. Frank Herbert (Dune)
All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void. Marbury vs. Madison (1803)
All men are, or ought to be free, possessing unalienable rights, and the high and noble qualifications of the laws of nature and of self-preservation, to think, and act, and say as they please, while they maintain a due respect to the rights and privileges of all other creatures, infringing upon none. Joseph Smith (History of the Church 5:156)
All of this has to be understood as part of a process leading ultimately to a treaty that will give an international body power over our domestic laws. Charles Pashayan, US Representative from California, 2001 United Nations Conference on Small Arms
All of us who were engaged in the struggle [of writing the Constitution] must have observed frequent instances of superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without His Aid? Benjamin Franklin, To Colleagues at the Constitutional Convention
All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land. William Kingdon Clifford
All politics are based on the indifference of the majority. James Reston
All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton
All presidents but Jefferson have argued that their first job was to keep us safe. All presidents but Jefferson were wrong. If you read the Constitution, you will see that the President's first job as Jefferson understood well is to keep us free. Judge Andrew Napolitano
A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls. Dan Quayle
Although our nation has been established on the principles of democracy and representation, we must keep in mind that democracy and representation are not in themselves the end, but are the means to an end -- which is to protect our rights and freedom. Johnny Hardy, 11 Apr 2011
Always love your country, but never trust your government. Robert Novak, journalist
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. John Quincy Adams
A lynch mob is Majority Rule stripped of its fancy trappings and facade of respectability. Robert J. Ringer
A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years. Lysander Spooner
A man may act as his conscience dictates so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others. David O. McKay
A man must not only stand for the right principles, but he must also fight for them. Those who fight for principle can be proud of the friends they've gained and the enemies they've earned. Ezra Taft Benson
A man who thinks of himself as belonging to a particular national group in America has not yet become an American. Woodrow Wilson
America is a nation of prayer. It's impossible to tell the story of our nation without telling the story of people who pray. George W. Bush, US President, May 2006
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the evil ones. Fred Maslack, Vermont State Representative
America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within. Josef Stalin
Americanism is a question of principles, of idealism, of character: it is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent. Theodore Roosevelt
Americans are choosing to get less and less news from traditional network TV. A poll in Brill's Content says 13 percent of Americans rely on David Letterman or Jay Leno to keep them informed. And a poll by the Pew Research Center reveals 16 percent regularly get news about political candidates from comedy shows like "Saturday Night Live." Gregory M. Lamb (Christian Science Monitor)
Americans just want us to...not be concerned if they can be constitutionally justified....Why, if we had to do that we could not pass most of the laws we enact around here. Sen. John Glenn (D-OH) 16 Jul 1996
Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security. Norman Vincent Peale
America was founded on the central Constitutional principles of individual freedom and limited government. Those principles provided the foundation on which this nation has prospered as no other in human history. And one mechanism by which the Founding Fathers protected those principles was to limit federal authority to commerce actually traversing state lines. Although the Founders needed to empower the federal government to prevent commercial warfare between states, that power extended only to actual goods and services crossing state lines. To do otherwise, and extend federal authority to anything that had any degree of direct or indirect impact on commerce whatsoever, would render federal power limitless. Such a possibility simply doesn't square with the Founders' central goal of a government with finite, defined power.
Timothy H. Lee
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Abraham Lincoln
Among the immediate obligations and duties resting upon members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today, and one of the most urgent and pressing for attention and action of all liberty loving people, is the preservation of individual liberty. David O. McKay
Among the natural rights [of the people] are these: first, a right to life; secondly, to liberty; thirdly to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can. Samuel Adams (1772)
An America that is militarily and economically strong is not enough. The world must see an America that is morally strong with a creed and a vision. This is what has led us to dare and achieve. For us, values counts. Ronald Reagan
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder[er] is less to fear. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC 43 BC)
A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. Benjamin Franklin
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one! Alexander Hamilton
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? Will Rogers
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? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever. Thomas Jefferson (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781)
And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless
government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and
predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.
Ronald Reagan, farewell speech, 11 Jan 1989
And it came to pass that whomsoever of the Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom, that they might maintain a free government, he caused to be put to death; and there were but few who denied the covenant of freedom. Book of Mormon, Alma 46:35
And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them. And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil. I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free. Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil. Doctrine & Covenants 98:4-10
And that is what the Constitution is all about - providing freedom from abuse by those in authority. Anyone who says the American Constitution is obsolete just because social and economic conditions have changed does not understand the real genius of the Constitution. It was designed to control something which has not changed and will not changenamely, human nature. Cleon Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap, p. 166. 1981
And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the 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; or to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States, or of some one or more of them; or to prevent the people from petitioning, in a peaceable and orderly manner, the federal legislature, for a redress of grievances; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions. Samuel Adams
And they will tear away one plank of liberty after another, until the whole fabric will totter and fall; and many other nations will be cast down and empires destroyed; and this nation will have to suffer as others will. And it will be as Joseph Smith once said, "When all others forsake the Constitution, the Elders of this Church will rally around the standard and save its tattered shreds." We will come to its rescue and proclaim liberty to all men. John Taylor (Journal of Discourses 20:357)
An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. James Madison
An election is nothing more than the advanced auction of stolen goods. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), Humorist
A new fascism promises security from the terror of crime. All that is required is that we take away the criminals' rights -- which, of course, are our own. Out of our desperation and fear we begin to feel a sense of security from the new totalitarian state. Gerry Spence (Give Me Liberty, 1998)
A news magazine writer asked me the other day during an interview concerning my belief in the Constitution of our country. I replied that I felt it was inspired. That both the deceleration of Independence and the constitution of the United States were brought forth unto the inspiration of god. To establish and sustain the freedom of the people of this nation. I told him that I looked upon the founding fathers as men who believed in god. As men who prayed to god. As men who recognized god and wished to do his will. What a singular and remarkable group they were. As I look across the world today, I search in vain. Gordon B. Hinckley (1997 Freedom Festival)
An honest politician is one who, when bought, stays bought. Author Unknown
An independent judiciary does not mean judges independent of the Constitution from which they derive their power or independent of the laws that they are sworn to uphold. Thomas Sowell
Another not unimportant consideration is, that the powers of the general government will be, and indeed must be, principally employed upon external objects, such as war, peace, negotiations with foreign powers, and foreign commerce. In its internal operations it can touch but few objects, except to introduce regulations beneficial to the commerce, intercourse, and other relations, between the states, and to lay taxes for the common good. The powers of the states, on the other hand, extend to all objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, and liberties, and property of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the state. Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
An unconstitutional act is not a law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation as inoperative as though it had never been passed. Norton v. Shelby County 118 U.S. 425 (1886)
An unconstitutional statute is no law, in the view of the constitution. It is void, and confers no authority on any one; and whoever attempts to execute it, does so at his peril.
Lysander Spooner
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Mahatma Gandhi.
Any government that's strong enough to give the people everything they want is a government that's strong enough to take it away. Author Unknown
Anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy. Michael Kinsley
Any time we deny any citizen the full exercise of his constitutional rights, we are weakening our own claim to them. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th US President, WWII General (Reader's Digest, Dec 1963)
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. Edward Abbey
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. Dwight D. Eisenhower
A people...who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything. George Washington (letter to Benjamin Harrison, 10 Oct 1784)
A person doesn't know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it. Ann Landers
A person's rights are best secured by conceding the very same rights to every other person under the same jurisdiction. Balint Vazsonyi, columnist for The Washington Times who survived Nazi conquest and escaped communist rule in his native Hungary
A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, simply to swell its ranks. Ronald Reagan
A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
A politician thinks of the next election -- a statesman, of the next generation. James Freeman Clarke
A popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people. Richard Henry Lee
A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. James Madison
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. George Washington (1732-1799), Circular to the States, 9 May 1753
A republican form of government presupposes self-government -- the capacity of citizens to govern themselves according to reason -- and does not, if it intends to survive, champion them as 'victims' when they don't. George Neumayr
A republican form of government requires four standards: It demands a highly educated population manifesting critical thinking that participates in the affairs of the nation. It requires that citizens invest in a similar moral code. It insists on a mutual ethical system abided by all. It must engender a single language whereby all citizens can discuss, debate, come to resolution and initiate mutual beneficial action for their society. Frosty Wooldridge, June 25, 2007
Are we reading the Constitution and pondering it? Are we aware of its principles? Are we abiding by these principles and teaching them to others? Could we defend the Constitution? Can we recognize when a law is constitutionally unsound? Do we know what the prophets have said about the Constitution and the threats to it? Ezra Taft Benson (Our Divine Constitution, LDS General Conference, 3 Oct 1987)
As a rule of thumb, Congressional legislation that is bipartisan is usually twice as bad as legislation that is partisan. Thomas Sowell
As democratically elected savages like Adolf Hitler illustrate, democracy is not an automatic guarantor of civilization. Separated from moral truth contained in a rule of law, democracies can be as tyrannical as the most rapacious undemocratic governments. America should only be on the side of 'democracy' if it produces civilization; otherwise the tyranny America seeks to end will spread through the very rhetoric of democracy it uses, should the bin Ladens and Hitlers be democratically elected to power. The Founding Fathers, it is worth remembering, didn't call King George III a tyrant because he was a monarch; they called him a tyrant because he violated basic human rights. They knew democracy could devour itself through its own tyrannies unless it was subject to a truth higher than democracy itself. George Neumayr
A simple democracy is the devil's own government. Benjamin Rush
As it has always done, somehow Government, like some monster from the past, has again outwitted the freedom-loving masses and has convinced them that they don't need protection from Government, but from everything else. And so the age-old beast our founding fathers had tamed is once more banging at our door. Dave Duffy
As long as judges tinker with the Constitution to 'do what the people want,' instead of what the document actually commands, politicians who pick and confirm new federal judges will naturally want only those who agree with them politically. US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016)
As loud voices argue on, let us remember that those who advocate abortion have already been born! Russell M. Nelson (Ensign, Nov 1984, p 31)
A socialist is somebody who doesn't have anything, and is ready to divide it up equally among everybody. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves. Bertrand de Jouvenel (French philosopher, 1903-1987)
A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that put freedom before equality will get a high degree of both. Milton Friedman, economist
A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom. Fredrich August von Hayek
A society that makes war with its police had better make friends with its criminals. Author Unknown
A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither. Thomas Jefferson
As Rodney Stark writes in his brilliant book, The Victory of Reason, our ideas about democracy and equality stem from the Christian understanding of man created in God's image. And that's why freedom has flourished only in those societies where citizens have embraced Judeo-Christian understandings of human dignity and God-given rights. Chuck Colson, Jul 2006
As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from the womb and long gestation of progressive history, so the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man. WE Gladstone
As we have progressed the mist has been removed, and in relation to these matters, the Elders of Israel begin to understand that they have something to do with the world politically as well as religiously, that it is as much their duty to study correct political principles as well as religious, and to seek to know and comprehend the social and political interests of man, and to learn and be able to teach that which would be best calculated to promote the interests of the world. John Taylor (Journal of Discourses 9:340)
All the costs of local, State and national Government must be reduced without fear and without favor. Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their Government, they will find that their Government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest. Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (1872-1933)
A taxpayer is someone who works for the federal government but who doesn't have to take a civil service examination. Ronald Reagan
At the time of its writing, many of the Founding Fathers opposed the Bill of Rights being included in the Constitution because the enumeration of certain rights -- which are restrictions on the federal government -- might tempt the government to trample on those not spelled out. The compromise drafted to satisfy the opposition became the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. The Tenth states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. This meant that whatever was not in the Constitution or amended into it, was in the power of the states to decide. And while this amending was done as required some seventeen times after the Bill
of Rights was ratified, today, changes have simply been declared by the courts, often resulting in the trampling the founders so feared. Liberal courts aided by their legislative and media counterparts are perverting the Bill of Rights one by one. With the exception of quartering federal troops in private homes, almost all of the first ten amendments have been twisted and deformed. Lisa Fabrizio
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. Theodore Roosevelt
A wise and frugal government...shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson (1801)
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 4
Mar 1801
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. Patrick Henry
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. George Jean Nathan
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Thomas Jefferson (letter to a Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, Connecticut, 1 Jan 1802)
Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and maintenance of liberty, freedom and the rights of man. John Taylor (Journal of Discourses 23:63)
Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life. Bob Marley
Beware! Freedom of speech also includes the freedom to be misunderstood. Ashleigh Brilliant
Beware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master. Demosthenes
Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were brought forth under the inspiration of God, to establish and sustain the freedom of the people of this Nation. ...I looked upon the Founding Fathers as men who believed in God, as men who prayed to God, as men who recognized God, and wished to do His will. What a singular and remarkable group they were. As I look across the world today I search in vain for such a group as walked together across the stage of history, when this Nation was born....Just think for a moment of George Washington, of Franklin, of Madison, of the Adams, of Thomas Jefferson and their associates who signed the Declaration of Independence, or participated in the Constitutional Convention. Where in all the world today can even one or two such men be found, let alone the great aggregation who participated in the birth of America? ...It is my conviction that while we've had a few great leaders since then, there has not been before or since so large a group of talented, able and dedicated men, as those who we call the Founding Fathers of this Nation. Gordon B. Hinckley (Fireside Address, BYU Marriott Center, 29 Jun 1997)
Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept? Frank Herbert (Dune)
Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism. Mary McCarthy
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. John Adams
But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution. John Adams, letter to H. Niles, 13 Feb 1818
[B]ut whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their re-establishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the human family. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Henri Gregoire, 25 Feb 1809)
But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government. Andrew Jackson, 4 Mar 1837
By deriving its just powers from the governed, government becomes primarily a mechanism for defense against bodily harm, theft, and involuntary servitude. It cannot claim the power to redistribute money or property nor to force reluctant citizens to perform acts of charity against their will. Government is created by the people. No individual possesses the power to take another's wealth or to force others to do good, so no government has the right to do such things either. The creature cannot exceed the creator. Ezra Taft Benson (The Constitution A Heavenly Banner)
By our very endowment as children of an Eternal Father, we have had implanted within our souls the urgency to be free. It is natural for us to want to be accountable for our own fates, because there is a whispering within us confirming that this accountability is absolutely essential to the attainment of our eternal destiny. Dean L. Larsen (Ensign, May 1980)
Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee. F. Lee Bailey, attorney
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 (1781)
Can the real Constitution be restored? Probably not. Too many Americans depend on government money under programs the Constitution doesn't authorize, and money talks with an eloquence Shakespeare could only envy. Ignorant people don't understand The Federalist Papers, but they understand government checks with their names on them. Joseph Sobran
Capitalism and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while capitalism seeks equality as a function of individual liberty, socialism (including democratic socialism), seeks equality as a function of servitude. Holmes Martin Dillian
Capitalism is relatively new in human history. Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering, and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man. Walter E Williams
Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. James Madison, 1794 Speech in the House of Representatives (Jesus laid that responsibility upon the shoulders of individuals.)
Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Carrington, 1787
Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew. Will and Ariel Durant
Civil rights used to be about treating everyone the same. But today some people are so used to special treatment that equal treatment is considered to be discrimination. Thomas Sowell
Collectivism takes on many guises and seldom uses its own real name. Words like 'community' and 'social' soothe us into thinking that collectivist decision-making is somehow higher and nobler than individual or 'selfish' decision-making. But the cold fact is that communities do not make decisions. Individuals who claim to speak for the community impose their decisions on us all. Collectivist dictation can occur from the local level to the international level, and the anointed push it at all levels. They want a bigger role for the UN, for the International Court of Justice at the Hague and for the European Union bureaucrats in Brussels. Anything except individual freedom. ...Maybe we are all destined to give up our freedom to those ruthless enough to take it from us -- or glib enough to soothe us into handing it over to them. Doug Bandow
Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the oppressor's rod, loose the iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring condign punishment to all those who trample
underfoot the glorious Constitution and the people's rights. Joseph Smith (History of the Church, 6:499)
Communism is not a political party nor a political plan under the Constitution; it is a system of government that is the opposite of our Constitutional government, and it would be necessary to destroy our government before Communism could be set up in the United States....[Communism] even reaches its hand into the sanctity of the family circle itself, disrupting the normal relationship of parent and child, all in a manner unknown and unsanctioned under the Constitutional guarantees under which we in America live. David O. McKay (Pathways to Happiness, p 46)
Communities have a responsibility to assist the family in promoting wholesome entertainment. What a community tolerates will become tomorrow's standard for today's youth. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Nov 1982, p 60)
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. Ronald Reagan
Confusion and mistakes come when we forget the importance of God's word as our unwavering guide. Hugh W. Pinnock (Conference Report, Oct 84, p 92)
Congress has been given the right to legislate on particular subject(s), but this is not the case in the of a great number of other problems of government such as the conduct of public utilities of banks of insurance, of business, of agriculture, of education, of social welfare, and of a dozen other important features. In these, Washington must not be encouraged to interfere.
Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D-NY), 2 Mar 1930
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but is restrained to those specifically enumerated, and...it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers. Thomas Jefferson
Congress is continually appointing fact-finding committees, when what we really need are some fact-facing committees. Roger Allen
Congress may not abdicate or transfer to others its legitimate functions. US Supreme Court (Schechter Poultry v US, 1935)
Congress seems to want to cure every ill known to man except unconstitutional government and high taxes. Charley Reese
Conspiracy Theories are Political Astrology. If you convince yourself that powers beyond your control affect your destiny, you can be lazy. Rob Pincus
Constitutional interpretation is not the business of the Court only, but also properly the business of all branches of government. Ed Meese, US Attorney General
Constitutional rights are not frozen in time. The First Amendment right to distribute pamphlets now covers the right to use modern methods of communication. Similarly, the Fourth Amendment right to be secure in your letters now includes the right to be secure in your email. It most definitely is not a matter of reaching a consensus between two groups of lobbyists as to whether constitutional rights can be horse traded away for increased hunting rights. One would hope that candidates for president of the United States could at least agree with the people that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" and that "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men." James N. Clymer, Constitution Party VP candidate, 17 Oct 2012
Constitutions are made of paper; Bayonets are made of steel. French Aphorism
Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant. James Madison.
Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death. James Madison (1751-1836), Father of the US Constitution, 4th US President
(The Federalist Papers
#10, 1787)
Democracy: A common system of government directed by the whims of mobs and marked by a low tolerance for basic human rights and common sense; primarily used to incrementally transition a government ruled by common law (Republic) to a government ruled by the political law of a few elite (Oligarchy). Urban Dictionary
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
[Democracy] is a fraudulent term used, often by ignorant persons but no less often by intellectual fakers, to describe an infamous mixture of socialism, graft, confiscation of property, and denial of personal rights to individuals whose virtuous principles make them offensive. Westbrook Pegler
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Democracy is a process by which people are free to choose the man who will get the blame. Laurence J. Peter
Democracy is indispensable to socialism. Vladimir Lenin
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Democracy is the most vile form of government....democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property: and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. James Madison, author of the US Constitution
Democracy is the oppression of the minority by the majority. It is a fraudulently legitimized method for government to give privilege to some by violating the rights of all the others. Bryan Morton
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Democracy is the road to socialism. Karl Marx
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. Ben Franklin
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Ben Franklin
Democracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. Benjamin Lichtenberg
Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend. Margaret Thatcher (1925- ) British Prime Minister
[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few. John Adams (An Essay on Man's Lust for Power, 1763)
Democracy...while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide. John Adams
[Democratic Republics] and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. Alexis de Tocqueville, Nineteenth-century historian
[Democrats] are trying on every front to increase the role of government. Barney Frank, congressman from Massachusetts, Oct 2009
Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. Oscar Wilde
Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and given him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the new wonderful good society which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), Roman philosopher and statesman
Don't be so concerned with your rights that you forget your manners. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Don't call it freedom, unless it includes the freedom to be absolutely disgusting. Ashleigh Brilliant
Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. Abraham Lincoln
Do you know what the primary infrastructure of the United States actually is, ladies and gentlemen? It's freedom -- freedom and liberty -- and that infrastructure certainly does need some rebuilding. Rush Limbaugh, 18 Sep 2013
Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never do less. Robert E. Lee
Duty: Something we look forward to with distaste, do with reluctance, and boast about forever. Joe Smyly, Northridge, California (Ensign, Feb 1972, p 80)
Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; and to give his personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary. But no part of the property of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. In fine, the people of this commonwealth are not controllable by any other laws than those to which their constitutional representative body have given their consent. John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776)
Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
[E]ach priesthood holder should use his influence in the community to resist the erosion process which is taking place in our political and economic life. He should use the political party of his choice to express his evaluation of important issues. He should see that his party is working to preserve freedom, not destroy it. He should join responsible local groups interested in promoting freedom and free competitive enterprise, in studying political issues, appraising the voting records and proposed programs, and writing to members of Congress, promoting good men in public office, and scrutinizing local, state, and federal agencies to see that the will of the people is being carried out. He should not wait for the Lord's servants to give instruction for every detail once they have announced the direction in which the priesthood should go. Each member should exercise prayerful judgment and then act. Ezra Taft Benson (God, Family, Country)
Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a federal, and not a national constitution. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#39, 1788)
Elected officials call America a democracy. Our school books teach the same. Yet we are not a democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic, a nation of limited government chained down by a Constitution. Kill the Constitution and the Marxists can create or ignore the law. Change the words, change the world.
Dave Daubenmire
Emergency does not create power. Emergency does not increase granted power or remove or diminish the restrictions imposed upon power granted or reserved. The Constitution was adopted in a period of grave emergency. Its grants of power to the federal government and its limitations of the power of the States were determined in the light of emergency, and they are not altered by emergency. Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court
Equal rights for all, special privileges for none. Thomas Jefferson
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Wendell Phillips (1811-1884)
Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy. Margaret Thatcher (1925- ) British Prime Minister
Even this nation will be on the verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the Constitution is on the brink of ruin this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction. Joseph Smith, as recorded by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray (Manuscript in Church Historians Office, Salt Lake City
[E]very American should read the Declaration of Independence before he reads the Constitution, and he will see that the Constitution aims at preventing a recurrence of the way George III's government treated the colonies. The declaration states this plainly: 'But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new Guards for their future security.' There is no question that the first 10 amendments are a part of those 'new guards' for their future security. And one of the most basic of those guards is the right to keep and bear arms. Ronald Reagan
Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of 'emergency'. It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And 'emergency' became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains. Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), 31st US President
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. Pope John Paul II
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. Thomas Jefferson (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV, 1781)
Every Latter-day Saint should sustain, honor, and obey the constitutional law of the land in which he lives. Spencer W. Kimball (Friend, Jul 1974)
Every logical position will eventually lead you into trouble, and heresy, and chaos. Every logical position is consistent, but it is logic which is in the human mind, not God's logic. The human mind is finite and cannot grasp eternity, and therefore the finite mind sees the infinite as not graspable coherently. If we could grasp it all coherently, without contradiction, we would be God. The person who insists on being logical to the end winds up in a mess. I am not saying that we should not be rational. I am not anti-intellectual. I am saying that the intellect by itself is helpless to arrive at total truth. Kenneth L. Pike
Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. Bernard M. Baruch
Every man who loves peace, every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty ought to have it ever before his eyes that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it. James Madison (The Federalist Papers #41)
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Everyone wants to vote for the best and most qualified man, but he never runs for office. Will Rogers
Every organization of our government, the best government in the world, is crumbling to pieces. Those who have it in their hands are the ones who are destroying it. How long will it be before the words of the prophet Joseph will be fulfilled? He said if the Constitution of the United States were saved at all it must be done by this people. It will not be many years before these words come to pass. Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses 12:204)
Every public elementary school ought to welcome Good News Clubs. Parents appreciate them; children love them; and the First Amendment protects them. The First Amendment requires that similar groups be provided with equal treatment. Religious speech is not a disability. It is our preeminent freedom. Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, speaking about a court order to allow children free and equal access after hours for religious activities in public school facilities
Every right, every right that we have in the freest, the most incredible country that has ever existed since the beginning of mankind, every right is accompanied by responsibility. That right, those rights, the connection between rights and responsibility cannot be separated. In uncertain times, some people demand more government as though the answer to every issue is government intervention. We cannot give government this collective responsibility without diminishing ourselves. Government only grows by encroaching on individual rights. There is an inverse relationship that we need to remind the American people of each and every day. As we ask government to do more for us, we by default, or perhaps in increments not discernable to the naked eye, take away basic individual freedoms that have created the greatness of our country. In short, good government is lean government. Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, 26 Apr 2003
Every single person in the government swears an oath to the very same constitution, to abide by the laws in pursuance of this constitution, and they all have the responsibility to follow its plain words....If a judge makes a ruling that is contrary to the plain words of the Constitution, then it's not law, it's just his bad opinion! Jim Babka
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of the government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of our people. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th US President
Evil cannot be accommodated. It must be defeated. Cal Thomas
Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. Author Unknown
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. Louis D. Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice, Olmstead v. United States, 1928
Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Frederick Douglass
[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy....the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God. Gouverneur Morris
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Bible, Galatians 5:13
For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests. Alexander Hamilton (Essays on the Constitution of the United States, 1892, p 25152)
For something to truly be considered a right, it must apply to every member of society equally. Timothy B. Lewis of the Constitutional Freedom Foundation
For those who have fought for it, freedom has a special flavor the protected will never know. a Soldier
For too long, Americans have let their rights be treated as privileges bestowed by the government. The boundaries that once confined the federal government now confine Americans. We must push back and assert our rights, holding the government accountable to the clear boundaries imposed by the Constitution, and to the oath of office each elected official has taken affirming their (alleged) intent to support and uphold that document. Connor Boyack, 13 Aug 2010
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Bible, Ephesians 6:12-13
For years we have heard of the role the Elders could play in saving the
Constitution from total destruction. But how can the Elders be expected to save it if they have not studied it and are not sure if it is being destroyed or what is
destroying it. Ezra Taft Benson
Freedom and liberty always mean freedom from police interference. Ludwig von Mises
Freedom can be killed by neglect as well as by direct attack. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Jul 1973, p 38)
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again. Ronald Reagan (California Gubernatorial Inauguration Speech 5 Jan 1967)
Freedom is an eternal principle. Heaven disapproves of force, coercion and intimidation. Only a free people can be truly a happy people. Ezra Taft Benson (This Nation Shall Endure, p 82)
Freedom is based on truth, and no man is completely free as long as any part of his belief is based on error. N. Eldon Tanner (Ensign, May 1978, p 14)
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it. Germaine Greer
Freedom is never an achieved state; like electricity, we've got to keep generating it or the lights go out. Wayne LaPierre
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963)
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. Ronald Reagan (Address to the annual meeting of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, 30 Mar 1961)
Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) US Founding Father
Freedom is not a gift received from the State or leader, but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all. Albert Camus
Freedom is not a gift which can be enjoyed save by those shown themselves worthy of it. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Freedom is not a self-preserving gift. It has to be earned, and it has to be protected. Boyd K. Packer (Speeches of the Year, Provo: Brigham Young University, 1971, p 1-7)
Freedom is not only a gift, but a summons to personal responsibility. Pope Benedict XVI, Apr 2008
Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it. Pericles
Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Theodore Roosevelt, US President
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. AJ Leibling
Freedom rings where opinions clash. Adlai E. Stevenson
Freedom without virtue is not freedom but license to pursue whatever passions prevail in the intemperate mind; man's right to freedom being in exact proportion to his willingness to put chains upon his own appetites; the less restraint from within, the more must be imposed from without. Edmund Burke
Free men can vote themselves into slavery, but slaves cannot vote themselves free. J. Reese Hunter, Former Utah State Representative
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. PJ O'Rourke
God created astrologers to make pollsters look accurate. John Kasich, Ohio Governor, 6 Nov 2012
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty....And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President, letter dated 13 Nov 1787 to William S. Smith
God has ordained the state as a delegated authority; it is not autonomous. The state is to be an agent of justice, to restrain evil by punishing the wrongdoer, and to protect the good in society. When it does the reverse, it has no proper authority. It is then a usurped authority and as such it becomes lawless and is tyranny. Francis Schaeffer, philosopher-theologian
We believe that God has endowed men with certain unalienable rights as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and that no legislature and no majority, however great, may morally limit or destroy these; that the sole function of government is to protect life, liberty, and property and anything more than this is usurpation and oppression. Ezra Taft Benson
God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it. Daniel Webster
God provided that in this land of liberty, our political allegiance shall run not to individuals, that is, to government officials....the only allegiant we owe as citizens or denizens of the United States, runs to our inspired Constitution which God Himself set up. J. Reuben Clark (The Improvement Era, 1940, 43:444)
God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan. Thomas Jefferson (Panel Three of the Jefferson Memorial, Washington DC)
God who gave us life gave us liberty. 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 Virginia Q.XVIII, 1782. ME 2:227)
Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow. Elias Boudinot, US Founding Father
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, US diplomat, lawyer, orator, politician (1782 - 1852)
[G]overnment can, instead of extending freedom, restrict freedom. And note ... that the 'can' quickly becomes 'will' the moment the holders of government power are left to their own devices. This is because of the corrupting influence of power, the natural tendency of men who possess some power to take unto themselves more power. The tendency leads eventually to the acquisition of all power -- whether in the hands of one or many makes little difference to the freedom of those left on the outside. Barry Goldwater (1909-1998), US Senator
Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says, 'See, if it wasn't for us, you couldn't walk.' Harry Browne
Government derives its authority from God. Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court Justice (Perhaps he should read the Declaration of Independence which clearly states that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Maybe Scalia is
referring to the tyrannical concept of "divine right of kings" which is akin to the
tyrannical American concept of "compelling state interest" pronounced by the US Supreme Court in 1944. Either way, Scalia's statement run counter to liberty -- it only enables
tyrannical politicians to impose their will by alleging that God made 'em do it.)
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), US President
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. Thomas Paine
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
Government has a tendency to treat splinters with tourniquets when a simple band-aid would do. One dishonorable ne'er-do-well in an industry of thousands can prompt congressional hearings, expensive investigations and an entire library full of new regulations. But sometimes it's not that complicated. Sometimes the remedy is as simple as removing the sliver, treating it with a dab of alcohol and moving on. Jason Wright
Government has no other end than the preservation of property. John Locke (1632-1704)
Government, in my humble opinion, should be formed to secure and to enlarge the exercise of the natural rights of its members; and every government, which has not this in view, as its principal object, is not a government of the legitimate kind. James Wilson, Lectures on Law, 1791
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance
auction in stolen goods. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it. John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776)
Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own.... nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest. James Madison (Essay on Property, 29 March 1792)
Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem. Ronald Reagan, 1981
Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase. Janice Rogers Brown, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court
Government never falls lower than when decent people dutifully excuse their leaders' sins. Tony Snow
Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Declaration of Independence, 4 Jul 1776
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. Ronald Reagan, US President
Government should never be in the business of defining or validating values and conscience. That is the role of family and religion. Blaine Nay
Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class -- whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy. Frank Herbert (Dune)
[G]rowing federal power, driven by legislation, validated by Supreme Court decisions, and accelerated by presidential ambition -- has eroded the rule of law in our nation, leaving almost no activity that the central government cannot at its discretion regulate, manipulate, or prohibit. Charlotte Twight, Dependent on DC: The Rise of Federal Control over the Lives of Ordinary Americans [2002]
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. Patrick Henry (speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 5 Jun 1778)
Hard work is what it takes to build a democratic society. Other forms of government are easier. Clifford D. May
Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. WC Fields
Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking. James Madison (The Federalist Papers #10, 1788)
Hence we say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who are privileged with the sweets of liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun. Joseph Smith (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 147-48)
Here in America we are descended in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), US President
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine (1791)
He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man....The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people. Samuel Adams
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
History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), US President, First Inaugural Address, 20 Jan 1953
Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world. Daniel Webster, (1782-1852), US Senator, 1851
Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party. Herbert Hoover
How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation? James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#41, 1788)
How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. Ronald Reagan, 1987
How then can we best befriend the Constitution in this critical hour and secure the blessings of liberty and ensure the protection and guidance of our Father in Heaven? First and foremost, we must be righteous. Second, we must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers. Have we read the Federalist Papers? Are we reading the Constitution and pondering it? Are we aware of its principles? Are we abiding by these principles and teaching them to others? Could we defend the Constitution? Can we recognize when a law is constitutionally unsound? Do we know what the prophets have said about the Constitution and the threats to it? As Jefferson said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free...it expects what never was and never will be." Third, we must become involved in civic affairs to see that we are properly represented. Fourth, we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, our teaching, and our advice. We must become accurately informed and then let others know how we feel. Ezra T. Benson (Teachings of Ezra T. Benson, p 621)
Human beings will generally exercise power when they can get it, and they will exercise it most undoubtedly in popular governments under pretense of public safety. Daniel Webster
Human government is more or less perfect as it approaches nearer or diverges farther from the imitation of this perfect plan of divine and moral government. John Adams, 1770
I am a Libertarian. I want to be known as a Libertarian and a Constitutionalist in the tradition of the early James Madison -- father of the Constitution. Labels change and perhaps in the old tradition I would be considered one of the original Whigs. The new title I would wear today is that of Conservative, though in its original connotation the term Liberal fits me better than the original meaning of the word Conservative. Ezra Taft Benson (The Red Carpet, p 206)
I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
I confess I enjoy democracy immensely. It is incomparably idiotic, and hence incomparably amusing. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
I'm happy to be here tonight from Washington, D.C., where the only politicians with convictions are in prison. Cal Thomas
I am not part of the problem. I am a Democrat. Al Gore
I am the greatest advocate of the Constitution....The only fault I find with the Constitution is, it is not broad enough to cover the whole ground. Although it provides that all men shall enjoy religious freedom, yet it does not provide the manner by which that freedom can be preserved, nor for the punishment of Government officers who refuse to protect the people in their religious rights, punish those mobs, states, or communities who interfere with the rights of the people on account of their religion. Its sentiments are good, but it provides no means of enforcing them. Joseph Smith
I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. -- From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant; give them the means of detecting the wrong, and they will apply the remedy. Daniel Webster (1782-1852), US Senator, 1 Jun 1837
I arose and spoke substantially as follows: ... I love the government and the constitution of the United States, but I do not love the damned rascals who administer the government. Brigham Young (JH [8 Sep 1851] 3-4)
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies... If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency... The banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. Thomas Jefferson
I believe that God has endowed men with certain inalienable rights as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and that no legislature and no majority, however great, may morally limit or destroy these; that the sole function of government is to protect life, liberty, and property, and anything more than this is usurpation and oppression. Ezra
Taft Benson (The Proper Role of Government, p 281-303)
I believe that only through a truly educated citizenry can the ideals that inspired the Founding Fathers of our nation be preserved and perpetuated. David O. McKay (Church News, 13 Mar 1954)
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. James Madison
I believe those who .ratified the Constitution conceived -- that this is not an indefinite government, deriving its powers from the general terms prefixed to the specified powers -- but a limited government, tied down to the specified powers, which explain and define the general terms. James Madison
I can find no warrant for such an appropriation [charity relief] in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. President Grover Cleveland
I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity. (To approve the measure to help the mentally ill) would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded. President Franklin Piece, 1854
I consider the difference between a system founded on the legislatures only, and one founded on the people, to be the true difference between a league or treaty and a constitution. James Madison, at the Constitutional Convention, 1787
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition. Thomas Jefferson (Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 15 Feb 1791)
I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the States the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in any religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must then rest with the States. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Miller, 23 Jan 1809)
I declare it as my opinion that [if] the power of Congress be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations . . . of the limited government established by the people of America. James Madison
I desire to call attention to the fact that the united, well ordered American home is one of the greatest contributing factors to the preservation of the Constitution of the United States. It has been aptly said that "Out of the homes of America will come the future citizens of America, and only as those homes are what they should be will this nation be what it should be." David O. McKay (Conference Report, Apr 1935, p 110)
I do not believe in the collective wisdom of average ignorance. Author Unknown
I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves. Ronald Reagan
I don't know how you feel, my brethren and sisters, but I'd rather be dead than to lose my liberty. I have no fear we'll ever lose it because of invasion from the outside. But I do have fear that it may slip away from us because of our own indifference, our own negligence, as citizens of this land. And so I plead with you this morning that you take an active interest in matters pertaining to the future of this country. Ezra Taft Benson ("The LDS Church and Politics", BYU Devotional, 1 Dec 1952)
I don't lose sleep at night worrying that people enjoy too much liberty. Alan Gura, attorney in Heller vs DC Supreme Court case
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers
I don't want no government. I just want one small enough to fit in the box it came in. Bill Whittle
I'd rather be dead than lose my liberty. I have no fear that we'll ever lose it because of invasion from the outside, but I do have fear that it may slip away from us because of our own indifference, our own negligence as citizens of this land. And so I plead with you this morning, that you take an active interest in matters pertaining to the future of this country. Ezra Taft Benson ("The LDS Church and Politics",
BYU Devotional, 1 Dec 1952)
I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when disordered. Thomas Paine, Common Sense
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. John Stuart Mill (On Liberty, 1859)
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Calvin Coolidge
If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers - normally good Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free - Americans who have been lulled away into a false security. Ezra Taft Benson (April 1968, General Conference Report)
If Americans loved judicial activism, liberals wouldn't be lying about what it is. Judicial activism means making up constitutional rights in order to strike down laws the justices don't like based on their personal preferences. It's not judicial activism to strike down laws because they violate the Constitution. Ann Coulter
If Americans wish to preserve a country they will recognize, then the first step is to recognize the enemy. Public education is the enemy. The entertainment industry is the enemy. The corporate culture is the enemy. The advertising industry is the enemy. And most of the politicians in both parties are the enemy. An enemy is defined as anybody, or any organization, which is attacking the traditional beliefs of Americans. Charley Reese (1937-2013)
If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that, too. W. Somerset Maugham, Strictly Personal, 1941
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions. James Madison, letter to Edmund Pendleton, 21 Jan 1792
If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their Own hands; they may appoint teachers in every state, county, and parish, and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision for the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress; for every object I have mentioned would admit of the application of money, and might be called, if Congress pleased, provisions for the general welfare.
James Madison, Father of the Constitution, on abuse of power in Congress
If diplomacy has any chance to work, it must be coupled with a credible military threat. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
If ever a 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, 1776
If everyone agrees that television has unrivaled efficiency at selling goods, services, culture, politics and fashion, why does the industry continue to claim that the one thing it cannot sell is violence? Paul Johnson (The Spectator)
If Fascism comes to America it would be on a program of Americanism. Gov. Huey P. Long, 1934
I fear that, as conditions worsen, many will react to the failures of too much government by calling for even more government. Then there will be more and more lifeboats launched
because fewer and fewer citizens know how to swim. Unlike some pendulums, political pendulums to not swing back automatically; they must be pushed. History is full of
instances when people have waited in vain for pendulums to swing back. Neal A Maxwell (Insights from My Life, p 196)
If fifty-million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. Anatole France
If government were a product, selling it would be illegal. PJ O'Rourke
I find no fault with the Constitution or laws of our country, they are good enough. It is the abuse of those laws which I despise, and which God, good men and angels abhor. Brigham Young (HC 7:573)
If it be asked, 'What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic?' The answer would be, 'An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws -- the first growing out of the last.' ... A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. Alexander Hamilton,
essay in the American Daily Advertiser, 1794
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. ― George Orwell
If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves? If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do they remain free because the despotism was of their own making? Herbert Spencer
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. 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. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#51, 8 Feb 1788)
If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question. ― Ronald Reagan
If our present happy form of government is sustained, which I believe it will be, it will be done by the people I am now looking upon, in connection with their brethren and their offspring. The present Constitution, with a few alterations of a trifling nature, is just as good as we want; and if it is sustained on this land of Joseph, it will be done by us and our posterity. Our national brethren do not know how to do it. They are not capable of controlling their own passions, to say nothing of ruling a nation. What is the reign of a king who cannot control his passions? Will not his subjects sorrow? Yes, they will feel the weight of his wrath, and their backs will ache, and their heads will ache, and they will receive the lash from a heavy hand. Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses 8:324)
If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. Kelvin Throop
If the American press corps were as concerned about the Tenth Amendment as it has been protecting the First and trying to get rid of the Second, this would be a far different country. Rich Galen, political analyst
If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
[I]f the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted....If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. Noah Webster (History of the United States)
If the federal government has the exclusive right to judge the extent of its own powers, warned the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions' authors (James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, respectively), it will continue to grow regardless of elections, the separation of powers, and other much-touted limits on government power. Thomas E. Woods
If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify. Alexander Hamilton (The Federalist Papers
#33, 3 Jan 1788)
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. George Washington
If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind? Frederic Bastiat
If the people fail to vote, a government will be developed which is not their government... The whole system of American Government rests on the ballot box. Unless citizens perform their duties there, such a system of government is doomed to failure. Calvin Coolidge
If the populace knew with what idiocy they were ruled, they would revolt. Charlemagne
If the present generation, or any other, are disposed to be slaves, it does not lessen the right of the succeeding generation to be free: wrongs cannot have a legal descent. Thomas Paine
[I]f the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them. Candidus in the Boston Gazette, 1772
If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Charles Grandison Finney
If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought -- not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate. Oliver Wendell Holmes, US Supreme Court Justice (United States v. Schwimmer)
If there is to be social and political regeneration in our Republic and in the rest of the world, it must be by tremendous regeneration of moral ideals. Dr. J. William Hudson, University of Missouri
If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. James Madison, US President
If tyranny happened again in America it will be because too many people gave the government tyrannical power.
Alfonzo Rachel
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. Emma Goldman
If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed. Chinese proverb
If we have Senators and Congressmen there that can't protect themselves against the evil temptations of lobbyists, we don't need to change our lobbies, we need to change our representatives. Will Rogers (1879-1935) American philosopher and humorist
If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. Ronald Reagan, US President
If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants. William Penn
If ye 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. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. Samuel Adams
If you are afraid to speak against tyranny, then you are already a slave. John "Birdman" Bryant (1943-2009)
If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism. Thomas Sowell
If you cede your rights and responsibilities to bureaucrats and administrators, that's what you'll get - bureaucracy and administrivia. Rich Locke
If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools. Plato
If you don't allow freedom, then you can't have freedom. Aaron Russo
If you have 10,000 regulations, you destroy all respect for law. Sir Winston Churchill
If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands, which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. Samuel Adams
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. P. J. O'Rourke
If you took all the economists in the world and laid them end-to-end, it would be a pretty good idea. Author Unknown
If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. Sir Winston Churchill
If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. Calvin Coolidge.
If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise, we do not believe in it at all. Noam Chomsky
If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under. Ronald Reagan
If we follow the Constitution as ratified, about 90-95% of what the Federal Government does would be considered unconstitutional. Brion McClanahan (The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution)
If we gave up our freedom as the price of security, we would no longer be the great nation that we are. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice
If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which different forms of government are established, we may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#39)
If ye 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; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. Samuel Adams
I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away ... a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general and particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. Thomas Jefferson (letter to James Madison, Dec 20, 1787)
I have been asked in these past weeks who caused the riots and the killings in L.A. My answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame. Dan Quayle
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace. That two become a law firm; and that three or more become a congress! John Adams
I have come to understand the meaning of the word "bipartisan" when used in the context of politics, as the gang raping of the American public.
Brian
I have faith that the Constitution will be saved as prophesied by Joseph Smith. It will be saved by the righteous citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom. It will be saved by enlightened members of this Churchamong othersmen and women who understand and abide the principles of the Constitution....I testify that the God of heaven sent some of His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this government, and He has now sent other choice spirits to help preserve it. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Nov 1987, p 7)
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting any constituents' "interests," I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can. Barry Goldwater, US Senate
I have no notion of being hanged for half treason. When a subject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way through, if he means afterward to sit down in safety. Colonel Joseph Reed, to Mr. Pettit, 1775
I have no platform. Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes. Judges are like umpires. They don't make rules, they apply them....The primary check on the courts has always been judicial self-restraint. Judge John Roberts before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sep 2005
I have no reason to suppose that he, who would take away my Liberty, would not when he had me in his Power, take away everything else. John Locke
I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy -- I don't disparage envy but I don't accept it as legitimately my master. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935)
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. Thomas Jefferson, US President
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress. Ronald Reagan
I hold it, that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Thomas Jefferson
I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. Ronald Reagan, 11 Jan 1989
I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to William Plumer, 21 Jul 1816
I just don't understand how any intelligent person can look at the world today and say: what we need is more government. David Harsanyi
I keep hearing how important it is for everyone to vote. Let me be politically incorrect and say that maybe some people shouldn't vote. I know I'm swimming against the tide. Get-out the-vote groups now register young people at rock concerts. HeadCount cofounder Andy Bernstein told me: 'We registered over a 100,000 people. It is so imperative that this generation's voice is heard.' But wait. Is that really a good idea? Many kids don't know much. At a HeadCount concert, [ABC's] '20/20' asked some future voters, 'How many senators are there?' One said 12, another 16, and another 64. One girl guessed, '50 per state.' Most kids didn't know what Roe v. Wade was about. 'Roe vs. Wayne?' asked one. 'Segregation, maybe?' 'Where we declared bankruptcy?' Headcount's Marc Brownstein concedes, 'there's a lot of uninformed voters out there.' But he argued: 'Democracy is not about taking the most educated portion of the society and having them decide who's going to run the entire society. Democracy is about every individual having a voice.' I suggested that when people don't know anything, maybe it's their civic duty not to vote. 'It's an argument that really, really smacks against everything we hold dear as Americans,' Bernstein replied.... Economist Bryan Caplan, author of 'The Myth of the Rational Voter,' points out, 'the public's knowledge of politics is shockingly low.' He scoffs at the idea that 'it's everyone's civic duty to vote.' 'This is very much like saying, it's our civic duty to give surgery advice,' Caplan said. 'We like to think that political issues are much less complicated than brain surgery, but many of them are pretty hard. If someone doesn't know what he's talking about, it really is better if they say, look, I'm going to leave this in wiser hands.' Isn't it elitist to say only some people should vote? 'Is it elitist to say only some people should do brain surgery? If you don't know what you're doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting.' ... Voting is serious business. It works best when people educate themselves. If uninformed people stay home on Election Day, good. John Stossel, ABC "20/20" co-anchor, Election 2008
I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power. Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Charles Jarvis, 1820
I love a dog, he does nothing for political reasons. Will Rogers
I love the government and the Constitution of the United States, but I do not love the damned rascals that administer the government. Brigham Young
I love this country. And because I do, I insist that the temporary inhabitants of high political office comply with the Constitution, honor our God-given unalienable rights, and respect our hard-earned private property. For this I am called seditious, among other things, by some of the very people who've condemned this society? Rush Limbaugh, Apr 2010
I'm building your jail cell. What color would you like the walls to be. See? I care about your opinion. Israel Callahan
I'm not part of the problem. I'm a Republican. Dan Quayle
Important principles may and must be inflexible. Abraham Lincoln
In a constitutional democracy, persons owe loyalty to the constitution rather than the government. I have long argued that on precisely this point, American public attitudes are quite different from those of Europe.
James Buchanan, speech at Hillsdale College, 3 Feb 2003
In a constitutional democracy the moral content of law must be given by the morality of the framer or legislator, never by the morality of the judge. Judge Robert Bork in an essay for the American Enterprise Institute
In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority. Edmund Burke
In a democracy the people get what the majority deserve. Jim Davidson
In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs. Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) (An Inquiry into the Principles of the Good Society, 1937)
In a nation whose current god is tolerance, it is absolutely hypocritical that the major group to be excluded and be intolerant of is evangelical Christians. Frank Page, president of Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee
In a republican nation whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance. Thomas Jefferson
In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side. Theodore Forstmann
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy): A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers. Morgan Philpot, 24 Oct 2011
Inequality is the inevitable consequence of liberty. Salvador De Madariaga (Anarchy or Hierarchy, 1937)
In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example...of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness. James Madison (National Gazette Essay, 1792)
In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend. Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 31, 1788)
In general, presidents and congressmen have very limited power to do good for the economy and awesome power to do bad. The best good thing that politicians can do for the economy is to stop doing bad. In part, this can be achieved through reducing taxes and economic regulation, and staying out of our lives. Walter Williams, Economist
In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man -- these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. Calvin Coolidge
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Martin Luther King, in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. John Adams
In my travels across the great land, a comment that I hear often from our fellow citizens is, 'Mr. President, I pray for you and your family.' It's amazing how many times a total stranger walks up and says that to me. You'd think they'd say, 'How about the bridge?' Or, 'How about filling the potholes?' No, they say, 'I've come to tell you I pray for you, Mr. President.' George W. Bush, US President, May 2006
In order that there may be no misunderstandings by bishops, stake presidents, and others regarding members of the Church participating in nonchurch meetings to study and become informed on the Constitution of the United States, Communism, etc., I wish to make the following statements that I have been sending out from my office for some time and that have come under question by some stake authorities, bishoprics, and others. Church members are at perfect liberty to act according to their own consciences in the matter of safeguarding our way of life. They are, of course, encouraged to honor the highest standards of the gospel and to work to preserve their own freedoms. They are free to participate in nonchurch meetings that are held to warn people of the threat of Communism or any other theory or principle that will deprive us of our free agency or individual liberties vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States. The Church, out of respect for the rights of all its members to have their political views and loyalties, must maintain the strictest possible neutrality. We have no intention of trying to interfere with the fullest and freest exercise of the political franchise of our members under and within our Constitution, which the Lord declared he established "by the hands of wise men whom raised up unto this very purpose" (D&C 101:80) and which, as to the principles thereof, the Prophet Joseph Smith, dedicating the Kirtland Temple, prayed should be "established forever." (D&C 109:54.) The Church does not yield any of its devotion to or convictions about safeguarding the American principles and the establishments of government under federal and state constitutions and the civil rights of men safeguarded by these....We therefore commend and encourage every person and every group who is sincerely seeking to study Constitutional principles and awaken a sleeping and apathetic people to the alarming conditions that are rapidly advancing about us. David O. McKay, LDS president (Statement Concerning the Position of the Church on Communism, p 477)
In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. Charles de Gaulle
In our time, government has become the main source of America's troubles. It deprives us of freedom and self rule, makes us poorer, sows strife among us, undermines our families, and debases our souls. Malcolm Wallup
In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, it was planned that way. Franklin D. Roosevelt
In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson (fair copy of the drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, 1798)
In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate -- look to his character. Noah Webster, Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education, 1789
In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot. Mark Twain
In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any. James Madison (Federalist Papers #14, 1787)
In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American ... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people. Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
In the formation of a government, the people may confer upon it such powers as they choose. The government, when so formed, may, and when called upon should, exercise all the powers it has for the protection of the rights of its citizens and the people within its jurisdiction; but it can exercise no other. The duty of a government to afford protection is limited always by the power it possesses for that purpose....The government of the United States is one of delegated powers alone. Its authority is defined and limited by the Constitution. All powers not granted to it by that instrument are reserved to the States or the people. No rights can be acquired under the constitution or laws of the United States, except such as the government of the United States has the authority to grant or secure. All that cannot be so granted or secured are left under the protection of the States. Chief Justice Morrison Waite (US v Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 1875)
In the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty. President George W. Bush
In the matter of taxation, every privilege is an injustice. Voltaire
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)
In the true meaning of rights where they are universally and equally enjoyed by all, there is no such thing as "minority rights." Today we seem to think that if the majority makes a law that prohibits certain conduct, and if a minority of the population does not like the restriction, then somehow we have violated some sort of minority rights. Were that the case, then absent unanimous consent, all democratically created laws would violate somebody's minority rights, and thus, appear to be invalid since most people seem to think that "rights" should always trump everything else. This is nonsense for by that thinking, we could have no laws whatsoever. When we create "rights" that only apply to certain groups of people but not to others, we violate a basic rule of law that everybody intuitively senses to be a good and just principle equal protection and equal application of the law. When the law treats people differently, the natural by-product is disrespect for the law.
Timothy
B. Lewis
In the typical case we look to the States to defend their prerogatives by adopting "the simple expedient of not
yielding" to federal blandishments when they do not want to embrace the federal policies as
their own. Chief Justice John Roberts, NFIB v Sebelius (2012)
In this graduation season, many high-school administrators will be deciding whether to include prayer in their ceremonies. The issue is more and more a subject of debate. The new discussion reflects a growing pattern of hostility to religion in the U.S. In short, many understand the law today as being hostile rather than neutral toward religionas forbidding all public prayers rather than simply prohibiting state-authored and state-required prayers in public schools....Religion should have a place in the public life of our nation. To honor this principle with prayers in the graduation exercises of high-school students is to honor the religious plurality of our nation and the religious liberty it was founded to protect. Dallin H. Oaks
In this world laws are written for the lofty aim of "the common good" and then acted out in life on the basis of the common greed. Saul D. Alinsky
I only wish, while I am a servant of the public, to know the will of my masters, that I may govern my self accordingly. George Washington (Letter to Edmund Pendleton, 1793)
I prefer a man who will burn the flag and then wrap himself in the Constitution to a man who will burn the Constitution and then wrap himself in the flag. Craig Anthony Washington
I prefer a thief to a Congressman. A thief will take your money and be on his way, but a Congressman will stand there and bore you with the reasons why he took it. Dr. Walter E. Williams, Economist, 4 Sep 2009
I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery. Thomas Jefferson
I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. Benjamin Franklin (The Busy-body, No. 3, 18 Feb 1728)
I repeat that no greater immediate responsibility rests upon members of the Church, upon all citizens of this republic and of neighboring republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States. David O. McKay, Conference Report p. 37. 1950
I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed his stamp of approval on the Constitution of this land. I testify that the God of heaven sent some of his choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this government, and he has sent other choice spirits-even you who hear my words this day-to preserve it. Ezra Taft Benson, Mormon Prophet
I say to you with all the fervor of my soul that God intended men to be free. Rebellion against tyranny is a righteous cause. It is an enormous evil for any man to be enslaved to any system contrary to his own will. For that reason men, 200 years ago, pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. No nation which has kept the commandments of God has ever perished, but I say to you that once freedom is lost, only blood -- human blood -- will win it back. Ezra Taft Benson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 26 Oct 1979)
I say to you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this church will, in order to keep the church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions have been. J. Reuben Clark (Conference Report, Apr 1944, p 115-116)
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
I spent three years getting my law degree at Yale Law School. From the moment I enrolled, I was assigned huge, leather-bound editions of legal cases to study and discuss. I read what lawyers and judges, professors and historians said about the Constitution. But never once was I assigned the task of reading the Constitution itself...Over the last decade, however, I have become a student of the Constitution, searching each line for its meaning and intent. Studying the Constitution is like studying the Bible. It is amazing how much more you will learn when you quit studying about it and pick it up to read it for yourself. Pat Robertson (America's Dates With Destiny)
Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them. James Madison (speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 20 Jun 1788)
Is the UN more pro-American than some Democrats? Heck, is Syria more pro-American than some Democrats? James Taranto on the UNSC resolution backing the US administration of Iraq
I suspect that over time we will rely increasingly, or take notice at least increasingly, on international and foreign courts in examining domestic issues. [Doing so] may not only enrich our own country's decisions, I think it may create that all important good impression. Sandra Day O'Connor, Former US Supreme Court Justice, 2003
It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own. Thomas Jefferson (Notes on the State of Virginia, 1784)
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 that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here. Patrick Henry
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
It doesn't take courage to change America -- It takes courage to keep it. John Longenecker
It has been pointed out by one of our political thinkers that other nations are organized to protect the government from the people, whereas the
United States government was organized to protect the people from the government. That is a nice thought, but if we lose this coming election it may well no longer apply Col. Jeff Cooper
It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. James Madison, 1833
I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty. Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, 1785
I think it's an intellectual duty for a person who lives in a free society to read material not only with which you agree, but with which you disagree. Because every so often somebody you think is wrong will actually turn out to be right. Tom Clancy
I think the country could be spared a lot of agony and the government could worry about inflation and a lot of other problems if [Nixon would] go on and resign....[There is] no question that an admission of making false statements to government officials and interfering with the FBI and the CIA is an impeachable offense. Bill Clinton, then a law professor at the University of Arkansas, Arkansas Gazette, 8 Aug 1974
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Thomas Jefferson
It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny. James Fenimore Cooper (The American Democrat, 1838)
[I]t is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own. Benjamin Franklin
It is a cruel hoax to seek to persuade the American people that the Bill of Rights should be watered down in response to rising crime rates. Nicholas Katzenbach
It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money. P.J. O'Rourke
It is a truism that no law is any better than the people who administer it. Howsoever well framed a law may be or however worthy its purpose, it can degenerate into utter futility unless wisely administered by those sympathetic with its purposes. ("The Church Welfare Plan," Sunday School manual, LDS Church, 1946, p 115).
It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad. James Madison
It is a worthy thing to fight for one's freedom; it is another sight finer to fight for another man's. Mark Twain
It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people. Richard Henry Lee (letter to Colonel Martin Pickett, 5 Mar 1786)
It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions make it impossible to earn a living. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. Voltaire
It is difficult to maintain the illusion that we are interpreting a Constitution, rather than inventing one, when we amend its provisions so breezily. US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016), 2003
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Thomas Jefferson
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men (servicemen) who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. Gen. George S. Patton
It is hard to look up to a leader who keeps his ear to the ground. James H. Boren
It is hostile to a democratic system to involve the judiciary in the politics of the people. Felix Frankfurter
It is imperative that good people, men and women of principle, be involved in the political process; otherwise we abdicate power to those whose designs are almost entirely selfish. Gordon B. Hinckley(BYU Devotional, 17 Sep 1996)
It is important that social, political, and religious freedoms grow in China. A society which recognizes religious freedom is a society which will recognize political freedom as well. George W. Bush, US President, Aug 2008
It is important to strengthen the State governments; and as this cannot be done by any change in the Federal Constitution (for the preservation of that is all we need contend for), it must be done by the States themselves, erecting such barriers at the constitutional line as cannot be surmounted either by themselves or by the General Government. The only barrier in their power is a wise government. A weak one will lose ground in every contest. Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Archibald Stuart, 1791)
It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#37, 11 Jan 1788)
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
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, letter to Destutt de Tracy (1820)
It is inevitable, that eventually the people will demand absolute security from the state... And absolute security is absolute slavery. Taylor Caldwell
It is in the interest of the people for the government to butt out of the interests of the people. http://FederalistPatriot.US
It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933), 30th US President
It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government. Mercy Warren (History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, 1805)
It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it less a despotism, if the persons so elected possess afterward, as a parliament, unlimited powers. Election, in this case, becomes separated from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism. Thomas Paine (Rights of Man, Part II)
It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. Ronald Reagan
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
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt
It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error. Justice Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court (American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 US 382, 442; 1950)
It isn't best that we all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races. Mark Twain
It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. Al Gore
It is only the warlike power of a civilized people that can give peace to the world. Theodore Roosevelt
It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound. Joseph Smith (History of the Church>, 5:286)
It is part of our "Mormon" theology that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired; that our Republic came into existence through wise men raised up for that very purpose. We believe it is the duty of the members of the Church to see that this Republic is not subverted either by any sudden or constant erosion of those principles which gave this Nation its birth. David O. Mckay (letter from President David O. McKay to BYU president Wilkinson)
[I]t is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. John Adams (letter to Zabdiel Adams, 21 Jun 1776)
It is safe to say that the U.S. Congress is now run by paid staffers, not by people elected to do the job. Barry Goldwater
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Slavery has so frightful an aspect to men accustomed to freedom that it must steal in upon them by degrees and must disguise itself in a thousand shapes in order to be received. David Hume, 1742
It is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act; and that the rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot well be separated. James Madison, Speech at the Virginia Convention, 2 Dec 1829
It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors. George Washington (Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789)
It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government. Thomas Paine
It is the people, and not the judges, who are entitled to say what their constitution means, for the constitution is theirs, it belongs to them and not to their servants in office.
Any other theory is incompatible with the foundation principles of our government.
President Theodore Roosevelt, 1912
It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religion profession of sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship. Massachusetts Bill of Rights, Part the First, 1780
It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the state governments will in all possible contingencies afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) (The Federalist Papers #28)
It must be recognized that in any culture, the source of law is the god of that society. 1.R. J. Rushdoony (Institutes of Biblical Law, p 4)
It's time to stop trying to put God in a box; instead, we must put the misbegotten separation of church and state argument where it belongs: a pine box. If we do not, that is most assuredly where our civilization will end up. Selwyn Duke
It is well that war is so terrible or we would grow fond of it. Robert E. Lee
It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for. Will Rogers
It's a great country, where anybody can grow up to be president...except me. Barry Goldwater, US Senator
It's always a source of amazement to me how the courts, the lawyers and the bureaucrats can twist the words of the Constitution to mean anything they want them to mean....Take, for example, the First Amendment, the words of which have been distorted into meaning that God and religion, primarily Christianity, have no place in public life and that Christmas itself should be abolished from public schools, public buildings and public places. Yet what does the First Amendment actually say regarding religion? Here it is: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. That's all it says. After that it talks about free speech, a free press and the right of the people to petition the government. But out of those 16 words regarding the relationship of religion to government, the courts over the years have steadily issued rulings based on the first 10 words of the amendment and ignoring the last six that go far beyond anything the amendment even hints at. If words mean what they say it seems to me what the amendment is saying is that Congress cannot pass a law that would establish a national religion, be it Christianity, Islam, Baal worship or anything else. And, at the same time, it, meaning Congress, cannot pass a law in any way banning the practice of religion. Seems pretty plain to me. Lyn Nofziger
It's a wise person who knows the difference between free speech and cheap talk. Doug Larson
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 Sowell
It's nice to elect the right people, but that isn't the way you solve things. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things. Milton Friedman
It's service, not status, that counts. Neal A. Maxwell (Ensign, July 1975, p 5)
It's time for the human race to enter the solar system. Vice President Al Gore
It's time to stop trying to put God in a box; instead, we must put the misbegotten separation of church and state argument where it belongs: a pine box. If we do not, that is most assuredly where our civilization will end up. Selwyn Duke
It was Thomas Jefferson who said that we should not allow the courts to have a monopoly on the interpretation of what is constitutional and what is not. Walter E. Williams
It will be an unmitigated tragedy if we get through this election season without every voting-age American thinking at least once, 'Maybe the election of one individual shouldn't make this much of a difference in my life.' Ben Lewis
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed? James Madison, The Federalist Papers
#62
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the
supposition he may abuse it. Georg Washington
I urge you by all this is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that you pray but also that you act! John Hancock
I want a government small enough to fit inside the Constitution. Harry Browne (1933-2006)
I want to be free. It's easier for me to be free if you're free. Russel Means (1939-2012)
I want to make one thing clear. This war against our constitution is not being fought way off in Madagascar or in Mandalay. It is being fought here -- in our schools, our colleges, our churches, our women's clubs. It is being fought with our money. Senator William Jenner (1908-1985)
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
It will be found to be both unwise and unjust to deprive a man of his liberties under the supposition that he will misuse them. George Washington
I will not support efforts to restrict free speech, silence political voices, and limit the free flow of information through legislative 'fixes' like the so-called 'Fairness Doctrine.' Unlike the totalitarian state depicted in Orwell's 1984, ours is not a state controlled by a Ministry of Truth with a speech police telling our citizens what we can and cannot say and hear. Let's keep it that way. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY), on free speech and the resurrection of the so-called Fairness Doctrine
I will tell you whom to vote for: We will vote for the principles of civil and religious liberty, the man who knows the most and who has the best heart and brain for a statesman; and we do not care a farthing whether he is a Whig, a Democrat, a Barnburner, a Republican, or a New Light or anything else. Brigham Young (Discourses of Brigham Young, p 358)
I wish it were possible to (amend our) constitution with ... an additional article taking from the federal government the power of borrowing. Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Taylor)
I wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes his oath of office, rather than to the flag and the nation. Carl Sagan
I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog. I have always supported measures and principles and not men. Davy Crockett
It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. [The Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect. Thomas Jefferson (Opinion on a National Bank, 1791)
I wouldn't want any Supreme Court Justice who our politicians would confirm. Selwyn Duke
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it. Thomas Jefferson (letter to A. Stuart, 1791)
Journalist: A person with nothing on his mind and the power to express it. Russell Baker
Judicial verbicide is calculated to convert the Constitution into a worthless scrap of paper and to replace our government of laws with a judicial oligarchy. Sen. Sam Ervin (1896-1985)
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. Pericles (495-429 BC)
Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#51, 8 Feb 1788)
Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness. We claim them from a higher source from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives. John Dickinson (1732-1808)
Know which officials are voted into office and which are appointed, and by whom. Marilyn vos Savant
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, Circa 1790)
Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure. Thomas Jefferson (letter to William Johnson, 12 Jun 1823)
Laws were most numerous when the state was most corrupt. Tacitus, Roman historian (Today, the US Code is over 47,000 pages long. The Code of Federal Regulations runs over 165,000 pages.)
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf (1934-2012)
Legislators and revolutionaries who promise equality and liberty at the same time are either psychopaths or mountebanks. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Lessons not learned in blood are soon forgotten. Gerard Butler, a character in the movie
Law Abiding Citizen
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country. Samuel Adams (Boston Gazette, 1781)
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th US President
Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation,
for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths, which are the
instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice? And let us with caution
indulge the opposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National
morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. George Washington, Farewell Address, 19 Sep 1796
Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God [Bible, Exodus 18:21]....If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted....If our government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. Noah Webster
Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence. Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
Let [the Constitution] be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges, let it be written in primers, in spelling books and in almanacs, let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. Abraham Lincoln (1838 - Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield)
Let the people think they govern and they will be governed. William Penn
Let us instill into the hearts of our children the love of freedom. Teach them that to be free is as precious as life itself. Fight every influence -- Socialist, communist, whatever it may be -- that would deprive an American citizen of the liberty vouchsafed by the Constitution. Liberty is truth. In truth we find liberty. You teachers, feel it in your hearts; instill it into the hearts of these precious children. May the Church of Jesus Christ ever stand true to the ideals of freedom. David O. McKay (Gospel Ideals, p 319-320)
Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack on our liberty, we encourage it. Samuel Adams
Let us revise our views and work from the premise that all laws should be for the welfare of society as a whole and not directed at the punishment of sins. John Biggs, Jr. (1895-1979) former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1945-65)
Let us say to the immigrant not that we hope he will learn English, but that he has got to learn it. Let the immigrant who does not learn it go back. He has got to consider the interest of the United States or he should not stay here. He must be made to see that his opportunities in this country depend upon his knowing English and observing American standards. The employer cannot be permitted to regard him only as an industrial asset. We must in every way possible encourage the immigrant to rise, help him up, give him a chance to help himself. If we try to carry him he may well prove not well worth carrying. We must in turn insist upon his showing the same standard of fealty to this country and to join with us in raising the level of our common American citizenship. If I could I would have the kind of restriction which would not allow any immigrant to come here unless I was content that his grandchildren would be fellow-citizens of my grandchildren. Theodore Roosevelt, 1 Feb 1916
Liberals like to achieve fairness by spreading the misery. Conservatives seek to expand opportunity. Rush Limbaugh
Liberals measure compassion by counting the number of people receiving government help. Rush Limbaugh
Liberals measure compassion by how many people are given welfare; conservatives measure compassion by how many people no longer need it. Rush Limbaugh
Liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments. John Adams
Liberty and freedom are so very precious that you do not fight and win them once and stop...(they are) prizes awarded only to those peoples who fight to win them and then keep fighting eternally to hold them! Sgt. Alvin York
Liberty cannot be caged into a charter or handed on ready-made to the next generation. Each generation must recreate liberty for its own times. Whether or not we establish freedom rests with ourselves. Florence Ellinwood Allen (1884-1966) (This Constitution of
Ours, 1940)
Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers. John Adams (Dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law, 1765)
Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of the limitation of government, not the increase of it. Woodrow Wilson, May 9, 1912, Address, New York Press Club
[Liberty] is freedom of choice, a divine gift, an essential virtue in a peaceful society. David O. McKay (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay, 0 205)
Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty. Calvin Coolidge
Liberty is not to be enjoyed, indeed it cannot exist, without the habits of just subordination; it consists, not so much in removing all restraint from the orderly, as in imposing it on the violent. Fisher Ames
Liberty is not to be found in any form of government; she is in the heart of the free man; he bears her with him everywhere. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others. William Allen White (1868-1944)
Liberty is the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organizing the right of the individual to lawful self-defense; of punishing injustice. Frιdιric Bastiat
Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of making the right choices. Author Unknown
Liberty lies in the hearts and minds of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. Justice Learned Hand
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. James Madison
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. George Bernard Shaw
Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood. John Adams (A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765)
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is the highest political end. Lord Acton
Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. George Bernard Shaw
Liberty ought to be the direct end of your government. Patrick Henry
Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose. Simone Weil
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. Frιdιric Bastiat, a French philosopher of the mid-1800's
Life without liberty is like a body without spirit. Kahlil Gibran
Man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around. Ezra Taft Benson (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, page 680)
Mankind will, in time, discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots. John Adams
Many cry, "we need government to protect us from other people." Government is the other people -- telling you what to do! Jim Ryan, 8 Oct 2011
Many law professors, and others who hold contempt for our Constitution, preach that the Constitution is a living document. Saying that the Constitution is a living document is the same as saying we don't have a Constitution. For rules to mean anything, they must be fixed. How many people would like to play me poker and have the rules be "living?" Depending on "evolving standards," maybe my two pair could beat your flush. Walter Williams, Economist
Many patriotic Americans demand a more limited government, but few seem to have figured out the path to reach that goal. Limited government and liberty will be obtained through personal responsibility. The duty to take care of ourselves and those around us must be lived, encouraged, and popularized if we are to create a free society. Latter-day Responsibility helps pave the way for a restoration of this primary virtue. John Pestana, co-founder of Omniture
Marxism is an emotional disorder, not a political philosophy. Wealthy people sometimes accept Marxism, not because it has ever worked, but because they feel guilty about having more than other people. But, more often, it is accepted by those with less who are angry, usually because they lack the talent and drive to succeed in a capitalist society. This realization often occurs at a ten-year high school reunion after they see people with less schooling and fewer degrees but with more money than they have. They don't want to compete with these people. They just want the IRS take their wealth and 'redistribute' it against their will under the threat of incarceration. They also like to call conservatives 'fascists'. Mike Adams
Men and women who live in America...have a responsibility greater than that yet borne by any other people. Theirs the duty, the obligation to preserve not only the Constitution of the land but the Christian principles from which sprang that immortal document. David O. McKay (The Light That Shines in Darkness, p 750)
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetitesin proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacityin proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumptionin proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon the will and appetite is placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters. Edmund Burke (Works, 4:5152)
Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty. Lord Acton
Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grand-children are once more slaves. D. H. Lawrence
Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything -- you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
Money will not purchase character or good government. Calvin Coolidge
More government spending can never fix anything that is broken due to government spending. Blaine Nay, 3 Dec 2012
Most bad government has grown out of too much government. Thomas Jefferson
Most budget "cuts" lamented by the media are actually reductions in proposed increases - bureaucrats' spending dreams unfulfilled. Far too many legislatures ultimately approve spending increases in excess of population and service needs, or tax-base growth, or in inflation, growing government and saddling earners with increased burdens of taxation to carry the load. Gary Marbut
Most of what we do down here is not authorized by the Constitution. James Clyburn, US House of Representatives, Apr 2010
Most people want security in this world, not liberty. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Most problems don't exist until a government agency is created to solve them. Kirk Kirkpatrick
Much of the Constitution is remarkably simple and straightforward -- certainly as compared to the convoluted reasoning of judges and law professors discussing what is called 'Constitutional law,' much of which has no basis in that document....The real question [for judicial nominees] is whether that nominee will follow the law or succumb to the lure of 'a living constitution,' 'evolving standards' and other lofty words meaning judicial power to reshape the law to suit their own personal preferences. Thomas Sowell
My construction of the constitution is very different from that you quote. It is that each department is truly independent of the others, and has an equal right to decide for itself what is the meaning of the constitution in the cases submitted to its action; and especially, where it is to act ultimately and without appeal. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Samuel Adams Wells, 1819
My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! Thomas Jefferson (I'd like to hear his commentary on our nation today.)
My independence is sacred to meit is a portion of that same Deity that rules in the heavens. There is not a being upon the face of the earth who is made in the image of God, who stands erect and is organized as God is, that should be deprived of the free exercise of his agency so far as he does not infringe upon others' rights, save by good advice and a good example. Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, 10:191)
My kind of loyalty was to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death. Mark Twain (1835-1910)
My plea is that as we continue our search for truth, particularly we of the Church, that we look for strength and goodness rather than weakness and failings in those who did so great a work in their time. We recognize that our forefathers were human. They doubtless made mistakes. Some of them acknowledged making mistakes. But the mistakes were minor when compared with the marvelous work which they accomplished. Gordon B. Hinckley
My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of 'We, the People,' instead of 'We, the States'? Patrick Henry, 1788
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. That government is best which governs least. Thomas Jefferson
Nations cannot endure in sin. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Nov. 1975, p 32)
Nations grown corrupt; Love bondage more than liberty; Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty. John Milton
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. William Pitt, speech to the House of Commons
Neither an act of Congress nor a decision of the supreme court nor both together, can alter or amend the Constitution. Pennsylvania Representative Elias H. Irish (1858)
[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. Samuel Adams (essay in The Public Advertiser, Circa 1749)
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. Otto Von Bismark
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, 1901-78
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers. Homer Simpson
Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups. Phil Steffen
Next to being one in worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States! If members of the Mechizedek
Priesthood allow the US Constitution to be destroyed they not only forfeit their rights to the
priesthood, but to a place in the highest degree of glory as well. David O. McKay (The Instructor, 1956, 91:34)
Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race. William Howard Taft (1857-1930)
No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. Ronald Reagan
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. Edmund Burke
No compact among men ... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other. George Washington (Draft of first Inaugural Address, 1789)
No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable. The Federalist Papers
#62
No government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life. Doctrine and Covenants 134:2
No government may remain strong by ignoring the commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Spencer W. Kimball (October 1976 General Conference)
No greater immediate responsibility rests upon the members of the Church, upon all citizens of this republic and of neighboring republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States. David O. McKay (The Instructor, Aug 1953; Prophets, Principles and National Survival p 157)
No legislative act...contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 78 (1787)
No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions, which can operate upon the human mind. Joseph Story, 1883 (17791845), US Supreme Court Justice
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation. General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. Mark Twain
No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. Judge Gideon J. Tucker (1826-1899)
No matter who you vote for the government always gets in. Judge Andrew Napolitano, 10 Dec 2011
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, letter to James Madison, 1786
No matter how [correct] a political position may be, it needs opposition or it will become its own brand of tyranny. Arle Richard Lommel
No matter how many pro-freedom politicians we elect to office, the only way to guarantee constitutional government is through an educated and activist public devoted to the ideals of liberty. Ron Paul, Congressman
No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine. William Blum, US Department of State
No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example. Thomas Jefferson
No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Rush Limbaugh
None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. John Milton,
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates [1649]
[N]o official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. Justice Jackson's 1943 decision in W. Va. State Board of Education v. Barnette
No one talks about the real ethics disaster in Washington. It's that many members of Congress will listen to any argument against a bill except for two: that it's not moral or that it's not Constitutional. Ron Paul, US Congressman
No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems -- of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind. Thomas Sowell
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 Nov 1775)
No political party is justified to continue in existence unless it clearly states the principles which it advocates, the platform upon which its candidates stand, and then with integrity, when and if elected, carry out those principles and live up to that platform. Except that be the case, we as Latter-day Saints should not align ourselves to any party, because we do not have the basis upon which we can make an intelligent decision. We must know what they stand for before we can favor them with our vote. Henry D. Moyle (CR-4/52:36)
No power was given to Congress to infringe on any one of the natural rights of the people by this Constitution; and, should they attempt it without constitutional authority, the act would be a nullity, and could not be enforced. Theophilus Parsons (17501813), American jurist
No soldier has ever won a war by dying for his country, he made the other dumb bastard die for his. General George S. Patton
Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the ease with which the many are governed by the few. Scottish economist David Hume (1711-1776)
Nothing has yet been offered to invalidate the doctrine that the meaning of the Constitution may as well be ascertained by the Legislative as by the Judicial authority. James Madison (Speech in the Congress of the United States, 18 Jun 1789)
Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights. Walter Williams, Economist
Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue. John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776
Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters. Samuel Adams
Nothing of importance happened today. King George III of England on July 4, 1776
Nothing was further from the minds of the Framers of the Constitution, than that the supreme Court should ever make the Supreme Law of the Land. Chief Justice Marlin T. Phelps, Arizona Supreme Court
Not to be confused with a republic, a democracy is a system in which, theoretically, what the majority says goes. The reality, however, is more complex and much uglier. In a democracy, various political elites struggle for control of the state apparatus by appealing to the material interests of large voting blocks with promises of legalized graft. James Ostrowski
Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature. Author Unknown
No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. Ronald Reagan
Now, I am not caring today, for myself, anything at all about a political party tag. So far as I am concerned, I want to know what the man stands for....When I find out these things, then I know who it is who should receive my support, and I care not what his party tag is....Today, our duty transcends party allegiance; our duty today is allegiance to the Constitution as it was given to us by the Lord. J. Reuben Clark (CR 10/62:8)
Now I tell you it is time the people of the United States were waking up with the understanding that if they don't save the Constitution from the dangers that threaten it, we will have a change of government. Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1950
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens....Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. George Washington, Farewell Address, 19 Sep 1796
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
Of course the US Constitution isn't perfect; but it's a lot better than what we have now. Eric Sheppard
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the US was too strong. Ronald Reagan, US Presidnet
[O]f 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 (The Federalist Papers
#1, 1787)
One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Martin Luther King, Jr.
One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Dr. Martin Luther King
One major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions. Edward R. Murrow
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 the great struggle for independence. Charles A. Beard (1874-1948)
One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. Thomas Reed (1839-1902), Speaker of the US House of Representatives, 1886
One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results. Milton Friedman, economist (1912-2006)
One of the notable aspects of the democratic process is that one need not know anything about a subject in order to pass laws about it. Colonel Jeff Cooper (Commentaries 11.4)
One of the painfully sobering realizations that come from reading history is the utter incompetence that is possible among leaders of whole nations and empires -- and the blind faith that such leaders can nevertheless inspire among the people who are enthralled by their words or their posturing. Dr. Thomas Sowell, Nov 2013
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. Plato
One of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free....One day, as Norman Thomas said, 'We will awake to find that we have socialism.' Ronald Reagan
One of the things that bothers me most is the growing belief in the country that security is more important than freedom. It ain't. Lyn Nofziger (1924-2006)
One of the worst errors a tyrant can make is to permit citizens to discover life without bureaucracy. The citizens may soon experience how little those bureaucracies were ever really needed. John Longenecker
[One] principle that actuated the lives of the fathers who founded our Constitution was faith in God. David O. McKay (Treasures of Life, p 88)
One single object will merit the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Livingston, March 25, 1825
One thing members of Congress need to realize is how much their reliance on staffers is hurting the institution and helping make it unaccountable. John Fund
On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed. Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 Jun 1823,The Complete Jefferson, p 322
One who knows not what his rights are can never know when they are taken and is unable to defend them. He is like a man who believes he owns a piece of ground which his neighbor also claims, but he doesn't know its boundaries. The neighbor continues to encroach further and further onto land he suspects is his, but since he is never certain where the boundary is, he cannot check the advance. Until he takes a firm position and says: "this far and no further," there is no line. H. Verlan Anderson
One, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned at the stake while the votes were being counted. Rep. Thomas Reed, 1885
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have need of masters. Benjamin Franklin
On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Only if you sacrifice for a cause will you love it. Victor L. Brown (Ensign, Nov 1975, p 66)
Our American republic will endure only as long as the ideas of the men who founded it continue dominant. James Russell Lowell
Our constitutions purport to be established by 'the people,' and, in theory, 'all the people' consent to such government as the constitutions authorize. But this consent of 'the people' exists only in theory. It has no existence in fact. Government is in reality established by the few; and these few assume the consent of all the rest, without any such consent being actually given. Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) Political theorist, activist, abolitionist
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams
Our country is being radically altered, step by step, by Justices who are not following any law. Robert Bork (Slouching Toward Gomorrah)
Our society is not held together primarily by law and its enforcement but most importantly by those who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their internalized norms of righteous or correct behavior. Religious belief in right and wrong is a vital influence to produce such voluntary compliance by a large number of our citizens.
Dallin H Oaks, 16 May 1013
Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance and from under the eye of their constituents...will invite the public agents to corruption, plunder, and waste....What an augmentation of the field for jobbing, speculating, plundering, office-building, and office-hunting would be produced by an assumption of all the state powers into the hands of the federal government! Thomas Jefferson
Our disregard of civic and moral virtue as an educational priority is having a tangible effect on the attitudes, understanding and behavior of large portions of the youth population in the United States today. Professor William Damon, Stanford University
Our Founding Fathers created a government that was controlled by the people rather than the other way around. The rule of law was to be supreme over group whims and pop fads. Tom DeWeese
Our founding fathers never intended that Congress be a career. Rush Limbaugh
Our inspired Constitution is wisely designed to protect from excesses of political power, but it can do little to protect us from the excesses of appetite or from individual indifference to great principles or institutions. Any significant unraveling of the moral fiber of the American people, therefore, finally imperils the Constitution. Neal Maxwell, 1993
Our nation, which possesses greater resources than any other, is rent, from center to circumference, with party strife, political intrigues, and sectional interest; our counselors are panic stricken, our legislators are astonished, and our senators are confounded. Joseph Smith
Our nation's problems will never be resolved so long as we base our votes on ignorance, emotion, and party loyalty. Blaine Nay
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin (letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 13 Nov 1789)
Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives. John Adams
Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Wilson Nicholas, 1803)
Our political institutions have been structured upon the premise that man is a free agent by divine endowment. Upon this premise the Magna Charta was wrung from King John in 1215. Contending for this principle, the Pilgrim Fathers were harried out of their native land by King James. After taking temporary refuge in Holland, they came to America, where they founded a new state in which they could implement their ideals of freedom. A century and a half later, the colonists wrote the principle of free agency Into the Declaration of Independence. Following the revolution, the Founding Fathers perpetuated it in the Constitution....Let us be ever conscious of the fact that our characters are fashioned by the decisions we make. Free agency does not guarantee freedom and liberty. Freedom and liberty and peace are the products of right decisions made in the exercise of free agency. Marion G. Romney (LDS General Conference, Oct 1968)
Our political way of life is by the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, and of course presupposes the existence of God, the moral ruler of the universe, and a rule of right and wrong, of just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and government. John Quincy Adams
Ours is a federal system. The President is sworn to uphold and support the Constitution. He is not a dictator. And not to be blamed for failing to act like one. Michael Gaynor (Commenting on a delayed Federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, Sep 2005)
Ours is a representative republic with a Constitution in which is recognized the natural law and the natural rights of man. It is a republic with a spiritual foundation characterized by freedom -- freedom for the individual and for his society. Ezra Taft Benson (An Enemy Hath Done This, p 97)
Ours is not a system designed to unleash the power of the government. It's a system designed to control it. Steve Chapman
Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it." Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Party has nothing to do with it. The Republican party exists for one purpose: To prolong the existence of the party. The Democrat party exists for one purpose: To prolong the existence of the party. Unions exist for one purpose: To prolong the existence of the union. Collectives exist for one purpose: To prolong the existence of the collective. When individuals begin to think as individuals (who happen to be committed to a collective effort) - then we will see progress. Brett Pruitt
Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. Adlai E. Stevenson
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth -- whether about the President or anyone else. Theodore Roosevelt, US President
Patriotism should be sought for and will be found in right living. No man can be a good Latter-day Saint and not be true to the best interests and general welfare of his country. Joseph Smith (Friend, Jul 1974)
Peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever. Ronald Reagan
People are beginning to realize that the apparatus of government is costly. But what they do not know is that the burden falls inevitably on them. Frιdιric Bastiat
People can live without a giant state. We've proven that already. But a giant state cannot live without dependent people. We feed the beast that puts us in shackles of our own creation. They are dependent on us. We think of revolutions as gunfire in the streets. But a soft and creeping tyranny can be beaten with a soft and creeping revolution. Think about it. Think about all the ways the totalitarian state is dependent on your personal actions. Think about what you do every day to help feed this beast and then stop doing that! Bill Whittle, 4 Jul 2013
People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing. Walter H. Judd (1898-1994) Minnesota legislator, physician, missionary, and orator
People who are not prepared to do unpopular things and defy the clamor of the multitude are not fit to be ministers in time of difficulty. Sir Winston Churchill
People who refuse to accept unpleasant truths have no right to complain about politicians who lie to them. What other kind of candidates would such people elect? Thomas Sowell, Economist
Please remember this; we have no Constitutional Rights, we have God-granted rights. The purpose of the Constitution was to restrain government. The Bill of Rights should actually be called the Bill of Government Limitations. Individual citizens cannot violate the Constitution. Only governments can.
Dave Daubenmire
Political and economic freedoms are not guarantees of getting the particular outcomes we want. Economic liberty doesn't mean the right to succeed in business, only the right to try. And economic freedom certainly doesn't mean that we are entitled to have the job we want, at the wages we want, whether or not we show up for work. Implicit in the notion of economic freedom is the individual's responsibility to play by the rules of the marketplace. We don't think of political freedom as the right to have our preferred candidates always win elections, only that they have a right to compete in any election. It simply can't be that I am unfree if my candidate doesn't win, or if my policies are not enacted. Losing an election does not make me unfree. Jennifer Roback Morse
Political correctness is neither political nor is it correct. It amounts to social censorship, and the sooner we spit it out, the better. Jeff Cooper
Politicians are like bad horsemen who are so preoccupied with staying in the saddle that they can't bother about where they're going. Joseph Schumpeter
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marx
Poor is the country that has no heroes, but beggard is that people who having them forgets. Author Unknown
Posterity, you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. John Quincy Adams
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
Power gradually extirpates from the mind every humane and gentle virtue. Edmund Burke
Power is most safe with those who are not in love with it! Meal A. Maxwell (Ensign, May 1999)
Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny. Patrick Henry
Powerlessness and silence go together. Margaret Atwood
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
Private capitalism makes a steam engine; State capitalism makes pyramids. Frank Chodorov (1887-1966)
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private virtue, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superiour to all private passions. John Adams (letter to Mercy Warren, 16 Apr 1776)
Question: I love the joke about a pollster who asks: 'Which is the greater problem facing Americans today: Ignorance or apathy?' A man replies, 'I don't know, and I don't care.' What would be your reply? Answer: Twenty years ago, I'd have said the greater problem was apathy. Now I believe it is ignorance. Plenty of people care, care wildly, and even care irrationally. But, in this new information age, Americans are so snowed with misinformation and disinformation, many simply don't know what to believe anymore. Even worse, some think they know what to believe, but they're wrong. Marilyn Vos Savant
Question: Is everyone in the world entitled to have his or her basic needs met? Answer: Entitled by what authority? No, I don't think we are. How can we live in freedom and maintain that we're entitled to anything that we can't get without the labor of others? Remember, if we're entitled to the labor of others, that makes us the slaves of those others. Marilyn Vos Savant
Religion 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, 1811
Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness. Samuel Adams (letter to John Trumbull, 16 Oct 1778)
Religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. Gouverneur Morris
Religious values and political realities are so interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose the influence of Christianity in the public square without seriously jeopardizing our freedoms. I maintain that this is a political fact, well qualified for argument in the public square by religious people whose freedom to believe and act must always be protected by what is properly called our First Freedom,' the free exercise of religion. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, LDS Apostle in
speech to BYU, 13 Oct 2009
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. John Adams
Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have. Barry Goldwater, US Senator
Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination. On the contrary, under no form of government will laws be better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness be more effectually dispensed to mankind. George Washington (Letter to Edmund Pendleton, 1795)
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them. Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. Thomas Jefferson
Responsibility is the price of freedom. Elbert Hubbard
Resolved, That the several states composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by compact, under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each state to itself the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: That to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral party, its co-states forming as to itself, the other party: That the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions, as of the mode and measure of redress. Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolution, 1798
Revolution is what societies do instead of committing suicide, when the alternatives are exhausted and all the connections that bind men's lives to familiar patterns are cut. To be a revolutionary is to love your life enough to change it, to choose struggle instead of exile, to risk everything with only the glimmering hope of a world to win. Andrew Kopkind, 1968
Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action. Theodore Roosevelt
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the limits of the law," because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. Thomas Jefferson
Rights are best guarded when each person and group guards for others those
rights they wish guarded for themselves. Jeffry R Holland
Rights are either God-given as part of the divine plan or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. Reason, necessity, tradition, and religious conviction all lead me to
accept the divine origin of these rights. Ezra Taft Benson (The Constitution A Heavenly Banner)
Rights are either God-given as part of the Divine Plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. Reason, necessity, tradition and religious convictions all lead me to accept the divine origin of these rights. If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government. I, for one, shall never accept that premise.
Ezra Taft Benson "The Proper Role of Government"
Rights are either God-given or evolve out of the democratic process. Most rights are based on the ability of people to agree on a social contract, the ability to make and keep agreements. Rush Limbaugh
Rights are like muscles. If you do not use them, they will go away. Tom Gresham, 7 Sep 2008
[Rights] are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives. In short, they are founded on the immutable maxims of reason and justice. John Dickinson (A Warning to the Colonies of the Right to Freedom; and of Traitors, 1766)
Saying the Constitution is a living document is the same as saying we don't have a Constitution. Walter Williams, Economist
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but is has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings. Helen Keller
Selecting lumber is a bit like electing politicians. There are few "perfect" choices -- some are crooked, and some are cracked and twisted. But some are better than others. Begin your sorting process by looking for limiting defects. Greg Rossel
Self Government won't work without self discipline. Paul Harvey
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power. Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack, 1738)
Should the general government in any of its departments violate the provisions of the constitution, it rests with the states, and with the people, to apply suitable remedies. 1811 Pennsylvania Resolutions Against the Bank
Since all of our fundamental human rights, including liberty, are a gift from God, they all predate government. This is important to consider since many people today seem to think that their rights emanate from their government rather than God. Again, understanding the proper ordering principle is important if our fundamental rights are to be effectively maintained in perpetuity. Government didn't come first, but rather, second - and its purpose is to protect our pre-existing human rights, not create them. Timothy B. Lewis of the Constitutional Freedom Foundation
Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. James Madison (1751-1836), Father of the US Constitution, 4th US President
Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it. Thomas Sowell
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Socialism is just another form of tyranny. Walter E. Williams
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain. Claude-Frιdιric Bastiat
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Thomas Paine (Common Sense, 1776)
So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men. Voltaire
Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them. Michael Levine
Someone asked "If we End the Fed, what would you replace it with?" and I replied, "When you remove a cancer, what do you replace it with?" Thomas Sowell
Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon. Sir Winston Churchill
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. Thomas Jefferson, First inaugural address, 1801
Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. Author Unknown
So when the wolf pounces on your lamb, just ignore the pitiful bleating and remind yourself that this is a democracy, where every sheep can freely express its preference for which kind of wolf it wants to be eaten by. Many sheep, perhaps understandably, prefer a wolf in sheep's clothing, which is after all the basic idea of democracy. So far it has worked pretty well. The wolves all agree on that, and they want to spread democracy everywhere. Joseph Sobran
Speaking of voters...if I had my druthers, I would raise the voting age to 26. If you're still covered by your parents' insurance policies, you're not an adult. The only exceptions to the rule would be young people serving in the military. I would also require those people who aren't old enough to collect Social Security to prove they pay income taxes. If there is a screwier notion than allowing those who pay no income taxes to vote for those in a position to force those of us who do pay them to pay even more for the benefit of those who don't pay any, I don't want to hear about it.....Finally, I would insist that anyone who wishes to cast a ballot prove he can read English by passing a basic civics exam. If you don't know who George Washington was and you have no idea what the Bill of Rights is, you have no God-given right to cancel out the vote of someone who does. I mean, for crying out loud, you have to pass a written test and prove you can parallel park to get a driver's license. In order to vote for our political leaders, shouldn't you have to prove anything beyond the fact that you're still alive and breathing -- or, in the case of Chicago elections, that you were ever alive and breathing? Burt Prelutsky
State a moral case to a plowman and a professor. The former will decide it well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules. Thomas Jefferson
Statesmen by dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. John Adams (letter to Zabdiel Adams, 21 Jun 1776)
Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production. Ayn Rand
Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a government resting solidly on the basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the unrestrained will of a majority; a form of government, as in all other unlimited ones, in which injustice, violence, and force must ultimately prevail. John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) American statesman, 1831
Suppose three muggers confront you on the street and say, We want your money. But don't worry we're going to let you vote on whether or not you should give it to us.' If this group votes three-to-one in favor of taking your money, does this legitimize its actions? Butler D. Shaffer
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. Mark Twain
Take a look around you, America. Our nation is becoming less efficient, less productive, less secure and less educated than any time in our history. What is the common denominator in this equation? Government has gotten involved in more and more of our everyday routines. Government cannot protect you from every danger. It cannot efficiently run airlines. It cannot create meaningful, productive jobs in the private sector. It cannot run efficient, affordable healthcare. It cannot effectively protect the environment. It cannot provide a quality food supply. It cannot adequately provide for you in your old age. It cannot create energy. It cannot provide a quality lifestyle. And it cannot stop the threat of terrorism by putting you in a government data bank and tracking your every move. It can and will smother you with rules and regulations designed to perpetuate the growing power of government. That is what government does. Americans must learn that lesson or suffocate. Your papers, please. Tom DeWeese
Teachings and ideologies subversive to the fundamental principles of this great Republic, which are contrary to the Constitution of the United States, or which are detrimental to the progress of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be condemned, whether advocated by Republicans or Democrats. David O. McKay
Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent. Napoleon Bonaparte
That book [the Bible], sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests. When that book falls, I assure you that the liberties you enjoy will go with it. Andrew Jackson
That government is best which governs least. Henry David Thoreau
That government is best which governs least. Thomas Paine
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. Thomas Jefferson
That's the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that. The Constitution is not a living organism, it is a legal document. It says something and doesn't say other things. Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court Justice
That text is known to them that have the patience to read it, possibly one one-hundredth of one percent of the denizens. They forget it, all save a few Western states. I think somebody in Dakota once read it. The Constitution. Ezra Pound (1885-1972) 30 Jun 1943
That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. Thomas Jefferson (Rights of British America, 1774)
The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#57)
The American Constitution was not written to protect criminals; it was written to protect the government from becoming criminals. Lenny Bruce
The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become. Ronald Reagan
The American people must be willing to give up a degree of personal privacy in exchange for safety and security. Louis Freeh Director of the FBI, 1993
The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened. Norman Thomas, Socialist Party presidential candidate 1936-68, Cofounder of the American Civil Liberties Union
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
Attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville
[T]he argument of flexibility...goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old, and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break....But you would have to be an idiot to believe that. The Constitution is not a living organism; it is a legal document. It says something and doesn't say other things....[Proponents of the living Constitution want matters to be decided] not by the people, but by the justices of the Supreme Court. Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court Justice, Feb 2006
The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all. George Washington
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average get-out-the-vote-drive organizer. Selwyn Duke
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter. Sir Winston Churchill
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away. Ronald Reagan
The best protection for the people is not necessarily to believe everything people tell them. Demosthenes
The best state is that in which bad men are not allowed to hold office, and good men are not allowed to refuse office. Pittacus (Greek sage - c. 600 BC)
The biggest roadblock to middle-class economic advancement is that governments confiscate more than a third of all family income. Each year the average American taxpayer works 127 days - from January 1 until May 7 - just to pay taxes. Thomas J. Dilorenzo
The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. Cicero, 63 BC (So what have we learned in over 2,000 years? Evidently nothing.
The burden of the militia duty lies equally upon all persons. Representative Williamson (member of the first Congress of the United States)
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government. Thomas Jefferson, 1809
The carping and bickering of political factions in the nation's capital reminds me of two pelicans quarreling over a dead fish. William Tecumseh Sherman
The central government cannot give to anybody what it does not first take from somebody else.
Mark Alexander
[T]he central problem of government is a religious one; and anyone who assumes that he can form his political
beliefs without consulting his ethics, which have their basis in religious conviction, is deceiving himself either about the true nature of
government or his moral responsibility for his actions H. Verlan Anderson (Many are Called but Few are Chosen)
The centralization of power in Washington, which nearly all members of Congress deplore in their speech and then support by their votes, steadily increases. Calvin Coolidge
The chief evil is unlimited government, and nobody is qualified to wield unlimited power. Friedrich A. Hayek
The Church must take right ground in regard to politics... Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as part of their duty to God... God will bless or curse this nation, according to the course Christians take in politics. Charles Grandison Finney
The Commerce Clause has already been inflated so much that we basically can't do anything without the government's permission. Alex Epstein
The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and punishment of his guilt. John Philpot Curran (speech on the Right of Election of Lord Mayor of Dublin, July 10, 1790)
The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools. US Congress, 1782
The Constitution and laws of the United States resemble a theocracy more closely than any government now on the earth, or that ever has been, so far as we know, except the government of the children of Israel to the time when they elected a king. Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses 6:342)
The Constitution does not protect the sovereignty of States for the benefit of the States or state governments as abstract political entities, or even for the benefit of the public officials governing the States. To the contrary, the Constitution divides authority between federal and state governments for the protection of individuals. State sovereignty is not just an end in itself:
"Rather, federalism secures to citizens the liberties that derive from the diffusion of sovereign power....Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate branches of the Federal Government serves to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front." ...Where Congress exceeds its authority relative to the States, therefore, the departure from the constitutional plan cannot be ratified by the "consent" of state officials. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, New York v. United States, 1992
The Constitution does not vest in Congress the authority to protect society from every bad act that might befall it....[I]f followed to its logical extreme, [this approach] would result in an unwarranted expansion of federal power. Clarence Thomas, May 2010 (US v Comstock)
The Constitution...is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please. Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution is a radical document...it is the job of the government to rein in people's rights. Bill Clinton, US President
The Constitution is a written instrument. As such, its meaning does not alter. That which it meant when it was adopted, it means now. US Supreme Court, South Carolina v United States, 1905
The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people. William O Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice
The Constitution is not a political buffet. We don't get to pick and choose which parts of it we will follow and what parts we will ignore because we don't like them. TJ Martinell
The Constitution is too important a document to have its interpretation left up solely to black-robed lawyers. Connor Boyack
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 Henry
The Constitution isn't perfect, but it's better than the system we're using now. Author Unknown
The Constitution of the United States, as formed by our fathers, was dictated, was revealed, was put into their hearts by the Almighty, who sits enthroned in the midst of the heavens; although unknown to them, it was dictated by the revelations of Jesus Christ, and I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as good as I could ask for. Brigham Young, Mormon Prophet
The Constitution of the United States has been mentioned...as the basis of wise decisions in fundamental principles as applied to all matters pertaining to law and order, because it was framed by men whom God raised up for this very purpose. But in addition to that inspired document, we must always keep in mind that the greatest weapons that can be forged against any false philosophy are the positive teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Harold B Lee (A Time of Decision, p 32)
The Constitution of the United States [has] delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever... It [is] true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution [has] also declared, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people." Therefore,... [all] acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void and of no force... The power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and of right appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory. Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution of the United States has ever been respected and honored by us. We consider it one of the best national instruments ever formed. Nay, further, Joseph Smith in his day said it was given by inspiration of God. We have ever stood by it, and we expect when the fanaticism of false, blatant friends shall have torn it shred from shred, to stand by the shattered ruins and uphold the broken, desecrated remnants of our country's institutions in all their primitive purity and pristine glory. John Taylor, Mormon Prophet
The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who are privileged with the sweets of its liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun....The Constitution of the United States is true. Joseph Smith (History of the Church, 3:304)
The Constitution of the United States is a great and treasured part of my religion....The overturning, or the material changing, or the distortion of any fundamental principle of our constitutional government would thus do violence to my religion....My faith teaches me that the Constitution is an inspired document drawn by the hands of men whom God raised up for that very purpose; that God has given His approval of the Government set up under the Constitution "for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles": that the constitutional "principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before" the Lord. (D&C 101:77, 98:5.)....So far as my knowledge goes, this is the only government now on the earth to which God has given such an approval. It is His plan for the government of free men. J. Reuben Clark (Stand Fast by Our Constitution, p 7, 172)
The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
The Constitution of this government was written by men who accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind. Let men and women in these United States then continue to keep their eyes centered upon Him who ever shines as a Light to all the world. David O. McKay (The Light That Shines in Darkness, p 750)
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790
The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the Judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please. Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the same and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption -- a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible....These explanations are preserved in the publications of the time. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Mesrs. Eddy, Russel, Thurber, Wheaton and Smith, 1801)
[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution. But this doctrine is not deducible from any circumstance peculiar to the plan of convention, but from the general theory of a limited Constitution. Alexander Hamilton (The Federalist Papers
#81, 1788)
The Constitution's framers intended to restrict central authority to the few areas that could not be handled by states. The drafters would be horrified at how the present court misapplies what they designed. Doug Bandow, 2005
The constitutions of most of our States [and of the United States] assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves in all cases to which they think themselves competent, or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of the press. Thomas Jefferson letter to John Cartwright, 1824. (The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition (ME), Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, 20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04, 16:45)
The Constitution that we have is an excellent one, if we can keep it where it is. George Washington
The Constitution under which we live and which has not only blessed us but has become a model for other constitutions, is our God-inspired national safeguard ensuring freedom and liberty, justice and equality before the law. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Nov 2001, p 72)
The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. Daniel Webster (American statesman and senator, 1782-1852)
The Constituion was written to be understood by the voters; its words and phrases were used in their normal and ordinary...meaning. United States v Sprague, 1931
The Constitution, which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all. George Washington
The Constitution whose very purpose is to limit the power of government is the supreme law of the land. Thus, when public officials violate it by twisting its meaning to serve their own ends, they become outlaws and cease to be legitimate agents of government. Viewing the Constitution as a living document guarantees a dying republic. Selwyn Duke, 3 Dec 2010
[The Constitution] will not be saved in Washington. It will be saved by the citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom...men and women who will subscribe to and abide the principles of the Constitution. Ezra Taft Benson, Mormon Prophet
The Council on Foreign Relations is "the establishment." Not only does it have influence and power in key decision-making positions at the highest levels of government to apply pressure from above, but it also announces and uses individuals and groups to bring pressure from below, to justify the high level decisions for converting the U.S. from a sovereign Constitutional Republic into a servile member state of a one-world dictatorship. John Rarick, Congressman, 1971
The country will survive Obama, but it cannot survive the abject ignorance that elected him. Rush Limbaugh, 9 Jun 2011
The Cycle of Democracy has been accurately summarized as:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty (rule of law);
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage (rule of men). Author Unknown, attributed to
Alexander Tyler
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
[T]he danger is not, that the judges will be too firm in resisting public opinion, and in defence of private rights or public liberties; but, that they will be ready to yield themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day. Joseph Story, US Supreme Court Justice
The day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion. Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), US Supreme Court Justice
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of these United States are covenants we have made not only with ourselves but with all mankind. Our founding documents proclaim to the world that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few. It is the universal right of all God's children. Ronald Reagan, US President
The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (What I Saw In America, 1922)
The Declaration of Independence . . . is much more than a political document. It constitutes a spiritual manifesto -- revelation, if you will -- declaring not for this nation only, but for all nations, the source of man's rights. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Nov 1976, p 33)
The Declaration of Independence...[is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Adams Wells, 1819)
The Declaration of Independence was to set forth the moral justification of a rebellion against a long-recognized political tradition -- the divine right of kings. At issue was the fundamental question of whether men's rights were God-given or whether these rights were to be dispensed by governments to their subjects. This document proclaimed that all men have certain inalienable rights. In other words, these rights came from God. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Nov 1976, p 33)
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
The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. Charles-Louis De Secondat, French philosopher (1689-1755)
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later. In a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting. Charles Bukowski
The difference between politics and baseball is that in baseball, when you get caught stealing, you're out. Ron Detinger
The different states, and even Congress itself, have passed many laws diametrically contrary to the Constitution of the United States....Shall we be such fools as to be governed by its laws, which are unconstitutional? No! -- Joseph Smith, 1843 (Documentary History of the Church, p 289-290)
The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. James Madison, "Father" of the US Constitution
The dominant purpose of the First Amendment was to prohibit the widespread practice of government suppression of embarrassing information. Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980)
The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII, 1781
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. James Madison
The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field -- the object is attained -- and it now remains to be my earnest wish & prayer, that the Citizens of the United States could make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them. George Washington (letter to the Reformed German Congregation of New York City, 27 Nov 1783)
The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had give them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men. Thomas Jefferson (letter to David Humphreys, 1789)
The expansion of government into all areas of our lives has carried with it great economic inefficiency. Yet more insidious is that it inevitably pits citizens against each other. Disagreements that would lie dormant and benign as a private matter of conscience suddenly become causes for bitter strife when injected into the coercive political realm. Robert Murphy
The family is a creation of God. It is the basic creation. The way to strengthen the nation is to strengthen the homes of the people. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, May 1998, p 51)
The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), US President
The First Amendment...does not say that in every respect there shall be a separation of Church and State....Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other -- hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly....The state may not establish a 'religion of secularism' in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe. Justice William Douglas
The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute [ie the US Constitution] is to discover the meaning of those who made it. James Wilson, US Supreme Court Justice and member of the US Constitution Convention (Of the Study of Law in the United States, Circa 1790)
The First Continental Congress made its first act a prayer, the beginning of a great tradition. We have then a lesson from the Founders of our land. That lesson is clear: That in the winning of freedom and in the living of life, the first step is prayer. Ronald Reagan, US President
The first maxim of a man who loves liberty, should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and well being of society. Richard Henry Lee
The foundation on which all [constitutions] are built is the natural equality of man, the denial of every preeminence but that annexed to legal office, and particularly the denial of a preeminence by birth. Thomas Jefferson (letter to George Washington, 1784)
The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation 'Under God' and in God, we do indeed trust. Mitt Romney, Presidential candidate, 6 Dec 2007
The founders who established this nation believed in God and in the existence of moral absolutesright and wrongestablished by this Ultimate Law-giver. The Constitution they established assumed and relied on morality in the actions of its citizens. Where did that morality come from and how was it to be retained? Belief in God and the consequent reality of right and wrong was taught by religious leaders in churches and synagogues, and the founders gave us the First Amendment to preserve that foundation for the Constitution. Dallin H. Oaks (Address given at Chapman University School of Law, Feb 2011)
The Founding Fathers believed that our Creator gave us certain inalienable rights. The Pledge of Allegiance simply reinforces the beliefs that led to the birth of our great nation. It is an oath of our fidelity to our country, and I am disappointed that the [9th Circuit] Court chose to rule against this American treasure. House Speaker Dennis Hastert addressing a federal judge's Sep 2005 ruling that schools permitting students to freely recite the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional
The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing. ... You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. ... It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, 'We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government.' This idea -- that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power -- is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. Ronald Reagan, 1964
The Framers thus ensured that powers which "in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people"
(James Madison, Federalist 45) were held by government more local and more
accountable that a distant federal bureaucracy. Chief Justice John Roberts,
NFIB v Sebelius (2012)
The freedom and happiness of man...[are] the sole objects of all legitimate government. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1810)
The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting. William J. Brennan (1906-1997) US Supreme Court Justice, 1982
The freedom to be an individual is the essence of America. Marilyn vos Savant
The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (18741936)
The French couldn't hate us any more unless we helped 'em out in another war. Will Rogers
The function of the prosecutor under the federal Constitution is not to tack as many skins of victims as possible against the wall. His function is to vindicate the rights of the people as expressed in the laws and give those accused of crime a fair trial. Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980)
The fundamental principle is this: No matter how worthwhile an end may be, if there is no constitutional authority to pursue it, then the federal government must step aside and leave the matter to the states or to private parties. The president and Congress can proceed only from constitutional authority, not from good intentions alone. If Congress thinks it necessary to expand its powers, the Framers crafted an amendment process for that purpose. But too often, rather than follow that process, Congress has disregarded the limits set by the Constitution and gutted our frontline defense against overweening federal government. Robert A. Levy (1941- ) Chairman of Cato Institute
The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms and false reasonings is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race, and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice. Alexander Hamilton (The Farmer Refuted, 23 Feb 1775)
The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it. George
Orwell
The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The Constitution for the United States of America is the supreme law of the land, any statute, to be valid, must be in agreement [with it]. It is impossible for both the Constitution and a statute violating it to be valid; one must prevail. This principle is succinctly stated as follows: The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted. Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it. A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby. No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it. Sixteenth American Jurisprudence, 2nd Edition, Section 177
The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence, were...the general principles of Christianity. John Adams of Massachusetts, a lawyer and the second president in a letter to Thomas Jefferson on 28 Jun 1813
The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it... No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law, and no courts are bound to enforce it. 16 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time....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? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever. Thomas Jefferson
The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them. Thomas Jefferson (Rights of British America, 1774)
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
The government shouldn't run anything, because it cannot run anything. Lawrence Kudlow, Economist
The government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw
The government was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself. Thomas Jefferson
The government which governs least governs best. Thomas Jefferson
The great desideratum in Government is, so to modify the sovereignty as that it may be sufficiently neutral between different parts of the Society to control one part from invading the rights of another, and at the same time sufficiently controlled itself, from setting up an interest adverse to that of the entire Society. James Madison (letter to Thomas Jefferson, 24 Oct 1787)
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. Louis Dembitz Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice, Whitney v. California, 1927]
The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people. Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Dickinson, 23 Jul 1801)
The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is
ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Judge Spencer Roane, 9 Mar 1821)
The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. Albert Einstein
The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of government power. Woodrow Wilson
The idea that government doesn't grant rights is offensive to those who wish to control our lives. Therefore, to gain greater control, the idea of natural rights, God-given rights and Christian values must be suppressed. The idea that rights precede government was John Locke's natural law philosophy, which had a significant influence on our nation's founders, but they chose to refer to natural law as rights endowed by the Creator. The attack on Christian ideas and Christian public displays is part and parcel of the Leftist control agenda in another way. Certain components of the Leftist agenda require that our primary allegiance be with government. As such, there must be an attack on allegiances to the teachings of the church and family....I'm not quite sure of just how we should respond to the ongoing attack on Christianity and American values, but we'd better do something quickly. Walter Williams, Economist
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th US President, speech at Vanderbilt University, 18 May 1963
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer. Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State (New York Times, 28 Oct 1973)
The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. Senator Barry Goldwater
The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. When your form's made out, you don't know whether you are a crook or a martyr. Will Rogers
The inherent right in the people to reform their government, I do not deny; and they have another right, and that is to resist unconstitutional laws without overturning the government. Daniel Webster
The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite. Thomas Jefferson
The instrument by which it [government] must act are either the AUTHORITY of the laws or FORCE. If the first be destroyed, the last must be substituted; and where this becomes the ordinary instrument of government there is an end to liberty! Alexander Hamilton (1794)
The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Thomas Ritchie, 1820)
The judge's authority derives entirely from the fact that he is applying the law and not his personal values. That is why the American public accepts the decisions of its courts, accepts even decisions that nullify the laws a majority of the electorate or their representatives voted for. Judge Robert Bork in his opening remarks at the Senate review of his appointment to the Supreme Court
The kingdom of God must be a continuing revolution against the norms of the society that fall below the standards that are set for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the field of public life, it must be a continuing revolution against proposals that contradict the fundamental principles as laid down in the Constitution of the United States, which was written by men whom God raised up for this very purpose. If we remember that, we will be in the forefront of every battle against the things that are tearing down our society. Harold B. Lee said (Keep Your Lamp Lighted p 104)
The King-men, and women, are running our government. And, worst of all, we are blindly electing them, or appointing them so they can continue to destroy the things we cherish most. John A. Widstoe (Gen Conf Apr 1944)
The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty. Fisher Ames (speech in the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 15 Jan 1788)
The land of the free will cease to be when it's no longer the home of the brave. Rick Gaber
[T]he laws of Congress are restricted to a certain sphere, and when they depart from this sphere, they are no longer supreme or binding. In the same manner the states have certain independent power, in which their laws are supreme. Alexander Hamilton (Elliot, 2:362)
The layman's constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn't like is unconstitutional. Justice Hugo L. Black (1886-1971) US Supreme Court Justice (New York Times, 26 Feb 1971)
The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex. James Madison, The Federalist Papers
#48
The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity. Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) 8th President of the United States
The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Samuel Adams (1722-1803)
The liberties of the freest people are in danger when they set up symbols of liberty as fetishes, worshipping the symbol instead of the principle it represents. Wendell Phillips
The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights. George Washington
The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous. Frederick Douglass (Speech given on the 23rd anniversary of the Emancipation, 1885)
The Lord...has spoken concerning our Government and Constitution, and he has said, "Ye are justified in maintaining the Constitution and laws of the land, for they make you free, and the Gospel maketh you free; and you shall seek to sustain good and wise men for rulers, and whatsoever is more or less than this cometh of evil." ....The laws of Heaven command us not to uphold and sustain men, except they are good men, who will sustain the Constitution of our country; and we are fulfilling the revelations in this respect as in many others, and we are carrying out the requirements of the Constitution of the United States. Wilford Woodruff (Journal of Discourses 7:104)
The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by destroying the Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread, and at that time this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction' (Journal of Discourses, 7:15). It is my conviction that the elders of Israel, widely spread over the nation, will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our country and provide the necessary balance of strength to save the institutions of constitutional government. Ezra Taft Benson (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p 618-619)
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
The malice of the wicked is reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous. Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
The majority of us are for free speech when it deals with subjects concerning which we have no intense feelings. Edmund B. Chaffee (1887-1936)
The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. William E Borah, US Senate
[T]he mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain. James Madison, Federalist No. 42, 1788
The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties anymore. Georges Bernanos
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. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free. John Adams (A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787)
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56-120 AD), Roman Senator
The more laws, the less justice. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out....without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
The most numerous objects of legislation belong to the States. Those of the National Legislature [are] but few. Rufus King, at the Federal Constitutional Convention
The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Spencer Roane, 9 Mar 1821)
The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop. PJ O'Rourke
The nation is built upon the foundation of its homes and the home upon its families. Spencer W Kimball (Ensign, Nov 1974, p 9)
The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools. Thucydides
The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men. Alexander Hamilton
The natural progress of things is for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield. Thomas Jefferson
The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program. Ronald Reagan
The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of government power. General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men opportunity to work out happiness for themselves. William Channing
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people, in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers, and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. John Adams (letter to Zabdiel Adams, 1776)
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. John Stuart Mill (On Liberty, 1859)
The only [legitimate] power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Ayn Rand
The only problem with voting is no matter who you vote for the government always gets in. Judge Andrew Napolitano
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. John Stuart Mill,
On Liberty [1869]
The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd US President
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke, 1871
The only valid political system is one that can handle an imbecile in power without suffering from it. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The only way we can keep our freedom is to work at it. Not some of us. All of us. Not some of the time, but all of the time. So if you value your citizenship and you want to keep it for yourself and your children and their children, give it your faith, your belief, and give it your active support in civic affairs. Spencer W. Kimball (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Chap 15 Pg 405)
The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State governments, in times of peace and security. James Madison, The Federalist Papers
#45
The opposition performs an adversarial function critical to democracy itself....Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law. Michael Ignatieff, a former leader of the loyal opposition in Canada
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. Benjamin Franklin (Emblematical Representations, circa 1774)
The particular [First A]mendment now under consideration assumes the existence of the right of the people to assemble for lawful purposes, and protects it against encroachment by Congress. The right was not created by the amendment; neither was its continuance guaranteed, except as against congressional interference. For their protection in its enjoyment, therefore, the people must look to the States. The power for that purpose was originally placed there, and it has never been surrendered to the United States. Chief Justice Morrison Waite (US v Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 1875)
The particular phraseology of the Constitution confirms and strengthens the principle...that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument. John Marshall, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (Marbury v Madison)
The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the Government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves. James Polk (1795-1849) 11th US president
The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. Plato
[T]he people are always most in danger when the means of injuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion. Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 25, 1787)
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. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces. James A. Garfield
The People are the only sure reliance for the preservation of liberty. Thomas Jefferson
The people are the source of governmental power. Along with many religious people, Latter-day Saints affirm that God gave the power to the people, and the people consented to a constitution that delegated certain powers to the government The sovereign power is in the people. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Feb 1992)
The people can never willfully betray their own interests: But they may possibly be betrayed by the representatives of the people; and the danger will be evidently greater where the whole legislative trust is lodged in the hands of one body of men, than where the concurrence of separate and dissimilar bodies is required in every public act. James Madison (The Federalist Papers
#63, 1788)
The people know it is impossible to rightly govern without God and the Bible. George Washington
The people never give up their liberties, but under some delusion. Edmund Burke
The people of the United States are the rightful master of both the congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution....To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men. Abraham Lincoln
The phrase "separation between the church and state" appears nowhere in any of our founding documents. It is neither in the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution. It is however, in the Humanist Manifesto and the Russian Constitution. It was a major plank in the Communist Manifesto. But it is not now, nor has it ever been an American ideal. Why don't more of our leaders know that? Dave Daubenmire
The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away. John Strider Coleman
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits. Thomas Jefferson
The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority. Will Durant
The potential transformation of the Establishment Clause [of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution] from a guardian of religious liberty into a guarantor of public secularism raises prospects at once dismal and dreadful ... maybe there are not any principles involved. Maybe it is just another effort to ensure that intermediate institutions, such as the religions, do not get in the way of the government's will. Perhaps, in short, it is a way of ensuring that only one vision of the meaning of reality -- that of the powerful group of individuals called the state -- is allowed a political role. Back in Tocqueville's day, this was called tyranny. Nowadays, all too often, but quite mistakenly, it is called the separation of church and state. Stephen L. Carter,
The Culture of Disbelief, p 122-123
The power of government, necessary as it is to maintaining a shared moral order, is the creature of and not the creator of men's rights, and the servant, not the master of our private relations in our families and religious communities. It has no jurisdiction over belief; it cannot properly legislate or adjudicate questions of religious duty or the validity of requirements of conscience....The state's authority comes from us, and its power -- the power of our elected employees -- cannot be greater that what we rightfully give it. We cannot give the state power over the conscience of men and women, because we do not ourselves have any right to come between God and our fellow citizens. Matthew J. Franck (Lecture at Hillsdale College, 11 Sep 2011)
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. James Madison, The Federalist Papers
#45
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Joseph Story, US Supreme Court Justice
The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled. George Washington (Letter to Bushrod Washington, 1787)
[T]he present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes - rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments. Alexander Hamilton (letter to James Bayard, April 1802)
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 1789
The President is bound to stop at the limits prescribed by our Constitution and law to the authorities in his hands, [and this] would apply in an occasion of peace as well as war. Thomas Jefferson
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. Plato
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Thomas Jefferson
The price of freedom keeps going up, but the quality keeps deteriorating. Ashleigh Brilliant
The principle of allegiance to the Constitution is basic to our freedom. when you see government invading any of these realms of freedom which we have under our Constitution, you will know that they are putting shackles on your liberty, and that tyranny is creeping upon you, no matter what the reason and excuse therefore may be. J. Rueben Clark (US Ambassador to Mexico)
The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves: a contest, that -- however bloody -- can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave. Lysander Spooner
[T]he problem to be solved is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect. James Madison
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained. George Washington (First Inaugural Address, Apr 1789)
The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become a primary object of its political cares. Alexander Hamilton (The Federalist Papers
#12, 27 November 1787)
The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men. Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 4 Nov 1775
The public welfare demands that constitutional cases must be decided according to the terms of the Constitution itself, and not according to judges' views of fairness, reasonableness, or justice. I have no fear of constitutional amendments properly adopted, but I do fear the rewriting of the Constitution by judges under the guise of interpretation. Justice Hugo Black, Columbia University's Charpentier Lectures (1968)
The real freedom of any individual can always be measured by the amount of responsibility which he must assume for his own welfare and security. Robert Welch
There are enough fools in Washington to destroy the country without any help from Muslim terrorists. Paul Craig Roberts
There are many things in America worth conserving. But I am one of those conservatives who believes the most important of those things is liberty. Without liberty, without individual freedom, what is left to conserve isn't worth all that much. Lyn Nofziger
There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. James Madison
There are really only two ways to interpret the Constitution--try to discern as best we can what the framers intended or make it up. No matter how ingenious, imaginative or artfully put, unless interpretive methodologies are tied to the original intent of the framers, they have no more basis in the Constitution than the latest football scores....To be sure, even the most conscientious effort to adhere to the original intent of the framers of our Constitution is flawed, as all methodologies and human institutions are; but at least originalism has the advantage of being legitimate and, I might add, impartial. Clarence Thomas, US Supreme Court Justice (Wall Street Journal, Opinion, 20 Oct 2008)
There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes President he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths. Mitt Romney, Presidential candidate, 6 Dec 2007
There are...two conditions which may justify a truly Christian man to entermind you, I say enter, not begina war; (1) An attempt to prevent a nation from dominating another or depriving it of its free agency, and (2) Loyalty to country. Possibly there is a third; viz., Defense of a weak nation that is being unjustly crushed by a strong, ruthless one. Paramount among these reasons, of course, is the defense of man's freedom. An attempt to rob man of his free agency caused dissension even in heaven....To deprive an intelligent human being of his free agency is to commit the crime of the ages....So fundamental in man's eternal progress is his inherent right to choose, that the Lord would defend it even at the price of war. Without freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom of action within lawful bounds, man cannot progress. The Lord recognized this, and also the fact that it would take man thousands of years to make the earth habitable for self-governing individuals. Throughout the ages advanced souls have yearned for a society in which liberty and justice prevail. Men have sought for it, fought for it, have died for it. Ancient freemen prized it, slaves longed for it, the Magna Charta demanded it, the Constitution of the United States declared it. A second obligation that impels us to become participants in this world war is loyalty to government. The greatest responsibility of the state is to guard the lives, and to protect the property and rights of its citizens; and if the state is obligated to protect its citizens from lawlessness within its boundaries, it is equally obligated to protect them from lawless encroachments from withoutwhether the attacking criminals be individuals or nations. David O. McKay, shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
There are two distinct classes of men: Those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes. Thomas Paine
There will be no accountability at any level of politics until there is accountability at the electoral level. Robert Welch
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Bible, 1 Timothy 2:1-3
Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood. Doctrine & Covenants 101:79-80
The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior; the representation of the people in the legislature by deputies of their own election... They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided. Alexander Hamilton (The Federalist Papers
#9, 1787)
There's a very healthy tradition in America of skepticism of centralized power. If we ever lose the skepticism of centralized power, we'll lose the essence of the country. Howard Fineman of Newsweek
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
There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come. Peter Muhlenberg, from a Lutheran sermon read at Woodstock, Virginia, 1776
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. John Adams, Notes for an oration at Braintree, 1772
There is good news from Washington today. The Congress is deadlocked and can't act. Will Rogers (1879-1935)
There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress...than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S. James Polk (1795-1849) 11th US president
There is no art which one government sooner learns from another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people. Adam Smith
There is no constitutional mandate requiring governments to be hostile to religion. Judge Clarence Brimmer commenting on Lanner v Wimmer (Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, 17 Dec 1978, p 10)
There is no maxim in my opinion which is more liable to be misapplied, and which therefore needs elucidation than the current one that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong. James Madison (letter to James Monroe, 1786)
There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Daniel Webster
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation of all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. Teddy Roosevelt in a speech before the Knights of Columbus
There is no 'slippery slope' toward loss of liberty, only a long staircase where each step down must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders. Alan K. Simpson
There is no such thing as a liberal...There hasn't been for a long, long time. I never use the word and you shouldn't either - nobody should. 'Liberal' is what socialists call themselves when they don't want you to understand that they plan to take away your rights, your property, and eventually your life. Alexander Hope
There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage. John Witherspoon (The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776)
There is nothing in the Constitution that allows the [Supreme] Court to read into the Constitution views of liberty that have no specific textual support and would not have occurred to its Framers. Peter Augustine Lawler
There is nothing government can give you that it hasn't taken from you in the first place. Sir Winston Churchill
There is no virtue in compulsory government charity. A politician who commends himself as "caring" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to do good with other people's money. A voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money - if a gun is held to his head. PJ O'Rourke
There is one and only one legitimate goal of United Stats foreign policy. It is a narrow goal, a nationalistic goal: the preservation of our national independence. Nothing in the Constitution grants that the president shall have the privilege of offering himself as a world leader. He is our executive; he is on our payroll; he is supposed to put our best interests in front of those of other nations. Nothing in the Constitution nor in logic grants to the president of the United States or Congress the power to influence the political life of other countries, to 'uplift' their cultures, to bolster their economies, to feed their people, or even defend them against their enemies. Ezra Taft Benson, Former Secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower
There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots - suspicion. Demosthenes
There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences. PJ O'Rourke
There is only one governing principle that properly respects the freedom of all citizens: ironclad obedience to a clear and concise document that identifies their inherent rights, and forbids the State from compromising them, under any circumstances. The Constitution does not "give" you those rights. It recognizes them. You had them before you could read or understand a single word. Every human being throughout history had them, even those who lived before any of the Founding Fathers were born. In reading the Constitution aloud, the 112th Congress will acknowledge those rights and read an arrest warrant to an out-of-control government. Your freedom is a halo, burning around a list of things the government cannot do. Our reverence for the Constitution is inseparable from our respect for each other. Jeers about "worshipping" the document are deliberate slander from those who fear the truth: The Constitution is a prayer we read while worshipping America.
John Hayward, 6 Jan 2011
There ought to be one day-- just one-- when there is open season on senators. Will Rogers
The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind. Thomas Jefferson (Letter to William Hunter, 11 Mar 1790)
The republic was not established by cowards, and cowards will not preserve it. Elmer Davis (1890-1958)
There's a simple way to solve the crime problem: obey the law; punish those who do not. Rush Limbaugh
There's no such thing as a passive patriot. You can't be a believer and just a spectator. Freedom demands action. Kayne Robinson, President, NRA
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 for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted--and you create a nation of law-breakers--and then you cash in on guilt. Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged, p 411)
[There's] the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that; the Constitution is not a living organism; it is a legal document. It says something and doesn't say other things. Justice Antonin Scalia
The resources of this earth are inexhaustible, because God made man's mind inexhaustible. Walter J. Hickel, Governor of the state of Alaska
The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations....This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution. John Adams (1735-1826), 13 Feb 1818, Second US President
There was a time when the American people roared like lions for liberty; now they bleat like sheep for security. Norman Vincent Peal
There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon...has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right. James Madison (Virginia Resolutions, 21 Dec 1798)
The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th US President
[T]he role of the judge is limited; the judge is to decide the cases before them; they're not to legislate; they're not to execute the laws... Judges don't have a license to go out and decide, 'I think this is an injustice and so I'm going to do something to fix it.' That type of judicial role, I think, is inconsistent with the role the Framers intended. John Roberts, US Supreme Court Justice
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. Alexander Hamilton (The Farmer Refuted, 1775)
The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys. Thomas Jefferson (1808)
The secret to winning the War for Independence was that we wanted to be free more than the Crown wanted to rule. The secret to being free from any state is that the people want to be free more than the state wants whatever it is it wants. Personal independence discredits big government bureaucracy. Personal independence shows no need for big government, no need. It is the best kept secret around the world. It is why freedom must be discouraged. By erasure, by punishment, by force of the state. Whenever the word 'compete' is used in 'service' to the people, it means survival, survival of the state, which is in fact what the state is competing with you for. John Longenecker, 18 Aug 2010
These are the times that try men's 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. Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, 1777)
These men are not incompetent or stupid. If they were merely stupid, they would occasionally make a mistake in our favor. James Forrestal on International Communism being promoted by our politicians in the early 1950's
These people [congressmen] are hirelings of the system and they are mainly interested in staying in office. The only exception to that in my mind is Rep. Ron Paul, and there may be another one or two. Just remember that our so-called congressmen and senators are paid by the Federal Government, and that is who they work for. Bob Livingston
[T]he several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes,--delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force....but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy. Thomas Jefferson, 10 Nov 1798
The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office. Will Rogers
The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003)
The size, scope and purposes of our government are no longer anchored in and limited by our Constitution. For conservatives who want to restore limited government, their first order of business is to restore the authority of the Constitution's original intent. Tom Krannawitter
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Ayn Rand
The society that draws a line between its fighting men and its thinking men will find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards. Sir William Francis Butler
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. ... I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere. Thomas Jefferson
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)
The State governments possess inherent advantages, which will ever give them an influence and ascendancy over the National Government, and will for ever preclude the possibility of federal encroachments. That their liberties, indeed, can be subverted by the federal head, is repugnant to every rule of political calculation. Alexander Hamilton (speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788)
The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. Frιdιric Bastiat
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else. Claude-Frederic Bastiat
The State Legislatures will jealously and closely watch the operations of this Government, and be able to resist with more effect every assumption of power, than any other power on earth can do; and the greatest opponents to a Federal Government admit the State Legislatures to be sure guardians of the people's liberty. James Madison
The States are separate and independent sovereigns. Sometimes they have to act like it.
Chief Justice John Roberts, NFIB v Sebelius (2012)
[T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore...never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Judge William Johnson, 12 Jun 1823)
The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty-bound to do his share in this defense are constitutional rights secure. Albert Einstein
The struggle between centralization and decentralization is at the core of American history. Anthony Gregory
The sum of the whole matter is this, that our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually. Woodrow Wilson (The Road Away from Revolution, Atlantic Monthly, Aug 1923)
The Supreme Court spread the contagion [of hostility to free religious exercise] through a series of bumbling and incoherent First Amendment cases, and the plague has ripped through the nation's intellectual elites, most of whom equate religious expression to fascist incitement. That's a curious twist, since the only thing protecting the American political system from fascism is religion itself. Here's why: faith supplies the essential ingredient for individual liberty -- and that ingredient is virtue. If people can agree upon basic moral precepts, they don't have to waste time watching their backs for Hobbesian treachery; they can proceed with some confidence that their persons, property and lawful actions are safe from assault. To put it in another way, when societies drive out God, somebody always moves swiftly to fill the vacuum -- and that somebody inevitably is a person or government that attempts to exercise irrevocable authority over its 'flock.' It is no accident that Hitler, Lenin, Pol Pot and other butchers of note took special pains early in their despotic careers to suppress religion and undermine the traditional family. Theophobes would find such a characterization truly horrifying, but it's true. This explains why theophobia -- while popular in faculty lounges, journalism seminars and Hollywood bacchanals -- has not and probably never will attract a public following of any appreciable influence or size. Tony Snow
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt
The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them....Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently....Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it - and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course they Christians take in politics. Charles Grandison Finney
The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered. Thomas Jefferson (Notes on the State of Virginia)
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. Thomas Jefferson
The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. Edmund Burke
[T]he true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely gathered from the words, but may be sought also in extraneous circumstances provided they do not contradict the express words of the law. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Albert Gallatin, 1808)
The true lovers of humanity are those who put on the uniform with regret, fight like hell when they wear it, take it off without rejoicing, but hang it where it can be got at if necessary, and remember that they must still stand watch in civilian clothes over the trophies of victory. Rupert Hughes (American Legion Magazine, 4 Jul 1919)
The true test is, whether the object be of a local character, and local use; or, whether it be of general benefit to the states. If it be purely local, congress cannot constitutionally appropriate money for the object. But, if the benefit be general, it matters not, whether in point of locality it be in one state, or several; whether it be of large, or of small extent. Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
The true test of a civilization is, not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops -- no, but the kind of man the country turns out. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882 (Society and Solitude, 1870)
The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought. Samuel Adams
The truth is, that, even with the most secure tenure of office, during good behavior, the danger is not, that the judges will be too firm in resisting public opinion, and in defense of private rights or public liberties; but, that they will be ready to yield themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day. Joseph Story, US Supreme Court Justice
The truth which makes men free is, for the most part, the truth which men prefer not to hear. Herbert Sebastian Agar
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the
Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first. Thomas Jefferson
The two most important documents affecting the destiny of America are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Both these immortal papers relate primarily to the freedom of the individual. David O. McKay (Gospel Ideals, p 309)
The tyranny of the many would be when one body takes over the rights of others, and then exercises its power to change the laws in its favor. Voltaire (1694-1778)
The unfortunate and inescapable historical truth is that those in government from both parties and with a few courageous exceptions do not feel constrained by the Constitution. They think they can do whatever they want. Judge Andrew Napolitano
The United States are under peculiar obligations to become a holy people unto the Lord our God. Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), President of Yale College (1778-1795)
The United States Constitution was the first written constitution in the world. It has served Americans well, enhancing freedom and prosperity during the changed conditions of more than two hundred years. Frequently copied, it has become the United States' most important export. After two centuries, every nation in the world except six have adopted written constitutions, and the U.S. Constitution was a model for all of them. No wonder modern revelation says that God established the US Constitution and that it 'should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles' (D&C 101:77). Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Feb 1992, p 68)
The United States does not have a choice as to whether or not is will or will not play a great part in the world. Fate has made that choice for us. The only question is whether we will play the part well or badly. Theodore Roosevelt
The United States was supposed to have a limited government originally, because the founders knew power attracts swarms of crooks, demagogues and despots as surely as horse manure attracts swarms of horseflies. Rick Gaber
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
The US Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. Benjamin Franklin
The US Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals. It does not determine the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government. It is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government. Ayn Rand
The US Constitution serves the same function as the British royal family: it offers a comforting symbol of tradition and continuity, thereby masking a radical change in the actual system of power. Joe Sobran (How Tyranny Came to America)
The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. George Washington
The very enumeration of the right takes out of the hands of government -- even the third branch of government -- the power to decide on a case-by-case basis whether the right is really worth insisting upon. A constitutional guarantee subject to future judges' assessments of its usefulness is no constitutional guarantee at all. Constitutional rights are enshrined with the scope they were understood to have when the People adopted them, whether or not future legislatures or (yes) even future judges think that scope too broad. District of Columbia v Heller, 128 S.Ct 2783 (2008) at 2821
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections. Robert H Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), 319 US 624)
The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands. Justice Hugo Black
The wall of separation between church and state is a metaphor based upon bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned... The greatest injury of the 'wall' notion is its mischievous diversion of judges from the actual intention of the drafters of the Bill of Rights. William Rehnquist, US Supreme Court Chief Justice
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. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
The whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals.... It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of. Albert Gallatin of the New York Historical Society, 7 Oct 1789
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
The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out. George Carlin
The world is run by those people who show up and speak up. So if you don't show up and speak up, you have to sit down and shut up. Old American Political Proverb
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. Albert Einstein
The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government. Henry Ward Beecher
The worst thing the federal government could do is to increase the size, reach and cost of government. If government failed in its response to the hurricane, the answer is not more inefficient government. Cal Thomas (Commenting on a delayed Federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, Sep 2005)
The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it. John Stuart Mill
They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. John Adams (Novanglus No. 7, 1775)
They serve to organize factions to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of the party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirity of party The alternate domination of one faction over another, shapened by the spirit of revenge has perperated
the most horrid enormities It serves always to distract the public councils and
enfeeble the public administration. George Washington, Farewell Address, 19 Sep 1796
They summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue. Gen. James A. Garfield
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers call this a new (world) order. It is not new and it is not order. Franklin D. Roosevelt
This balance between the National and State governments ought to be dwelt on with peculiar attention, as it is of the utmost importance. It forms a double security to the people. If one encroaches on their rights they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by a certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them. Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788
This Constitutional Republic called America is an historic aberration. Any honest student of history will note that the prevailing socio-economic system is feudalism, where a tiny minority control the vast majority of wealth, power, and resources. In doing so, they have absolute control over the 99% of the population. Power equals control. Howard Nemerov
This Constitution...shall be the supreme law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby. US Constitution Article VI
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. Theodore Roosevelt, US President
[T]his hyper-sensitivity to religious minorities requires gross insensitivity to America's majority religion. You know, the one that begins with a 'C.' Since at least 9 out of 10 taxpayers are Christians, they foot the bill for a public education system on a search-and-destroy mission against even the mildest expressions of their holidays. America was founded by Christians and based on Judeo-Christian values. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and drafters of the Constitution all were Christians -- not Buddhists, or Wiccans or Zoroastrians. Were it not for Protestant Christianity, we wouldn't have limited government, separation of powers, a Bill of Rights or religious tolerance. In short, without Christians, the United States of America would not exist. Even in an age when traditional religion is driven underground, our currency still says 'One nation under God' -- not one nation under Allah or Shiva. On January 22nd [2005], like all of his predecessors, George W. Bush will take the oath of office on a Bible that tells the story of the Nativity. Don Feder
This is the deadening consensus that crosses party lines, that dominates our major media, and that is strangling the liberty and prosperity that were once the birthright of Americans. Dissenters who tell their fellow citizens what is really going on are subject to smear campaigns that, like clockwork, are aimed at the political heretic. Truth is treason in the empire of lies. Dr. Ron Paul
This is the issue [at hand]: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. Ronald Reagan (while serving as Governor of California)
This is the number one responsibility of the Latter-day Saints -- to get in the struggle to preserve freedom. Everywhere that Communism succeeds, missionary work, temple work, everything the Church does, dies. Your number one responsibility is to preserve freedom. David O. McKay
This nation desperately needs leaders who have the courage and integrity to stand without apology for policies that are morally right. If we have any such leaders left, it is surely thanks to God's grace and providence -- and no thanks to the wisdom of self-terminating conservatives. Alan Keyes
This people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction. Then shall the Lord say: Go tell my servants who are the strength of mine house, my young men and middle-aged, etc., Come to the land of my vineyard and fight the battle of the Lord. Then the Kings and Queens shall come, yea the foreign saints shall come to fight for the land of my vineyard, for in this thing shall be their safety and they will have no power to choose but will come as a man fleeth from a sudden destruction. I know these things by the visions of the Almighty. Joseph Smith (Joseph Smith Collection; from an address given 19 Jul 1840)
This separation of the two spheres is one of the Constitution's structural
protections of liberty....a healthy balance of power between states and the
Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front Prinz v United States (1997)
This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Henry Lee, 1825)
Those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of Heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits...inspired of the Lord. Wilford Woodruff
Those who advocate more and more government regulation have been experimenting for 40 years, trying to create an economic system in which everyone can somehow be made more prosperous by the toil of someone else. Ronald Reagan, 1974
Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it. Lysander Spooner
Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only a unanimity of the graveyard. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (Minersville School District v. Grobitis, 1940)
Those who cast the votes, they decide nothing. Those who count the votes, they decide everything. Joseph Stalin
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. Thomas Paine
Those who have been intoxicated with power...can never willingly abandon it. Edmund Burke
Those who insist that a Church program exist for every contingency and need are as much in error as their counterparts who demand that government intervene in every aspect of our lives. In both instances the ideal balance is destroyed with a resultant detriment to human progress. Dean L. Larsen (Ensign, May 1980)
Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask that our judges adhere. Judge Robert Bork (The Tempting Of America)
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Those who would give us a "living" Constitution are actually giving us a dead one, since such a thing is completely unable to protect us against the encroachments of government power. Kevin Gutzman
Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)
Those who proposed the Constitution knew, and those who ratified the Constitution also knew that this is...a limited government tied down to specified powers....It was never supposed or suspected that the old Congress could give away the money of the states to encourage agriculture or for any other purpose they pleased. James Madison (in response to a proposal to subsidize a troubled fishing industry in New England in 1792)
Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Barry Goldwater
Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order. John V. Lindsay
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
Throughout the ages advanced souls have yearned for a society in which liberty and justice prevail. Men have sought for it, fought for it, have died for it. Ancient freemen prized it; slaves longed for it; the Magna Charta demanded it; the Constitution of the United States declared it. David O. McKay (Gospel Ideals, p 288)
Throwing money at problems never solved anything! Rush Limbaugh
Thus, the central problem of government is a religious one, and anyone who assumes that he can form political
beliefs without consulting his ethics, which have their basis in religious conviction, is
deceiving himself either about the true nature of government or his moral responsibility for his actions. H Verlan Anderson (Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen)
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Mazzei, 1796)
To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas. Brock Chisolm, Psychiatrist and Director of the UN from 1948-53
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919)
To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. George Washington
[T]o consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. . . . The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal. The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the Judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please. - Thomas Jefferson
Today the primary threat to the liberties of the American people comes not from communism, foreign tyrants or dictators. It comes from the tendency on our own shores to centralize power, to trust bureaucracies rather than people. Gov. George Allen
Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th US President
Today, when a concerted effort is made to obliterate this point, it cannot be repeated too often that the Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals -- that it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government -- that it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government. Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
To deprive an intelligent human being of his free agency is to commit the crime of the ages....So fundamental in man's eternal progress is his inherent right to choose, that the Lord would defend it even at the price of war. David O. McKay, Conference Repot, 1942
To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the world and has established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law and government, appears to a common understanding altogether irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind. Alexander Hamilton
To insist on strength is not war-mongering. It is peace-mongering. Barry Goldwater, US Senator
To lead an untrained people into war is to throw them away. Confucius, Analects, circa 500 BC
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
To me, conservative means believing in a minimum amount of government and a maximum amount of freedom -- and keeping government out of people's lives and business -- and leaving people alone. Lyn Nofziger
To meet the serious issues facing us in our respective communities today, we must be examples of virtue and righteousness ourselves and choose today to take our stand on the moral issues which threaten us. N. Eldon Tanner (Ensign, Jul 1973, p 7)
To silence criticism is to silence freedom. Sidney Hook (1902-1989)
To sit home, read one's favorite newspaper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men's doing. Theodore Roosevelt
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 Apr 1816)
To the American people I bid a fond farewell. Guard your liberties. It is the trust of each generation to pass a free republic to the next. And if I know you right, you will rouse yourself from slumber to ensure exactly that. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
To the extent that government is pursuing policies that restrict free people and erode free markets, the government is, indeed, headed in the wrong direction. The right direction for government is always in policies that advance the principles of freedom. Henry Lamb
To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look. Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. Stand up and be counted. It can help to save your soul--and maybe your country. Ezra Taft Benson (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p 592)
To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions every day, I say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny. Ronald Reagan, US President
To worship the Lord is to stand valiantly in the cause of truth and righteousness, to let our influence for good be felt in civic, cultural, educational, and governmental fields, and to support those laws and principles which further the Lord's interests on earth. Bruce R. McConkie
True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrong-doing by its prohibitions....It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is commonly considered punishment. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
True liberty acknowledges and defends the equal rights of all men, and all nations. Gerrit Smith, American politician
True liberty in individuals consists in the enjoying of every right that will contribute to one's peace and happiness, so long as the exercise of such a privilege does not interfere with the same privilege in others. David O. McKay (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay, p 205)
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. Clarence Darrow
Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now - always. Albert Schweitzer
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Thomas Paine (The Crisis, 1776)
Ultimately, power only really listens to power, and if government is to be improved, we must be able to threaten its existence, not merely its reputation. Vαclav Havel (On the Theme of an Opposition)
Under a free market, each additional person is another pair of hands and another mind. Under socialism, each new person is another mouth to feed. Richard W. Fulmer (American Spectator, Oct 1996)
Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the citizen. Grover Cleveland
Unless we as citizens of this nation forsake our sins, political and otherwise, and return to the fundamental principles of Christianity and of constitutional government, we will lose our political liberties, our free institutions, and will stand in jeopardy before God of losing our exaltation. Ezra Taft Benson (Conference Report, Apr 1976)
Unless we members of the Church do all we can to preserve the freedoms we have within the bounds of the laws of God, we will be held accountable. Joseph Smith (Principles of the Gospel, p 135-6)
Unless we retain a vibrant desire to be free, and unless we understand and practice the principles that give life to essential freedoms, we have little reason to hope they will endure. Dean L. Larsen (Ensign, May 1980)
Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Urging vague and unconstrained government power is not how responsible citizens of a free society ought to act. It's a bad habit and it's dangerous and irresponsible to promote it. Ken White
Virtually everything that the government does costs more than when the same thing is done in private industry -- whether it is building housing, running prisons, collecting garbage, or innumerable other things. Why in the world would we imagine that health care would be the exception? Thomas Sowell
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill
We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around. Ronald Reagan, US President
We are a people united by our love for freedom, even when we differ in our personal beliefs. In America, we are free to profess any faith we choose, or no faith at all. George W. Bush, US President, May 2006
We are easily deceived about government because we are inclined to accept the following fallacies: (a) Anything legal is also moral. (b) We are not individually responsible for government action. (c) A different moral law applies to men in concert than it does when they act alone. -- H Verlan Andersen (Many are Called but Few are Chosen)
We are fast approaching that moment prophesied by Joseph Smith when he said: "This people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction." Ezra Taft Benson, Oct 1987
We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. Dwight D. Eisenhower
We are involved in an intense battle. It is a battle between right and wrong, between truth and error, between the design of the Almighty on the one hand and that of Lucifer on the other. For that reason, we desperately need moral men and women who stand on principle, to be involved in the political process. Otherwise, we abdicate power to those whose designs are almost entirely selfish. Gordon B. Hinckley (Stand a little Taller, p 15, July 2001)
We are not given the step-by-step backsliding of this Jareditic civilization till it reached the social and governmental chaos the record sets out, but those steps seem wholly clear from the results. Put into modern terms, we can understand them. First there was a forsaking of the righteous life, and the working of wickedness; then must have come the extortion and oppression of the poor by the rich; then retaliation and reprisal by the poor against the rich; then would come a cry to share the wealth which should belong to all; then the easy belief that society owed every man a living whether he worked or not; then the keeping of a great body of idlers; then when community revenues failed to do this, as they always have failed and always will fail, a self-helping by one to the goods of his neighbor; and finally when the neighbor resisted, as resist he must, or starve with his family, then death to the neighbor and all that belonged to him. This was the decreed "fullness of iniquity." J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Former US Ambassador and member of LDS presidency (Improvement Era, Jul, 1940)
We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed. Thomas Jefferson
We are serving no one man, we are serving our country. General Winfield Scott Hancock
We believe that all legislative assemblies should confine themselves to constitutional principles; and that all such laws should be implicitly obeyed by every American. John Taylor, Mormon Prophet
We believe that God has endowed men with certain unalienable rights as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and that no legislature and no majority, however great, may morally limit or destroy these; that the sole function of government is to protect life, liberty, and property and anything more than this is usurpation and oppression. Ezra Taft Benson
We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed
and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of
conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.
Doctrine and Covenants 134:2
We can be deeply thankful that we live in a land where reason and religion are friends and allies in the cause of liberty, joined against the evils and dangers of the day. And you can be certain of this: Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me. And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: we do not insist on a single strain of religion - rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith. Mitt Romney, Presidential candidate, 6 Dec 2007
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. Edward Murrow
We cannot make ourselves safer by making ourselves less free. Wayne LaPierre
We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans. Bill Clinton, US President (USA Today, 11 Mar 1993, page 2a)
We do not move forward by curtailing people's liberty because we are afraid of what they may do or say. Eleanor Roosevelt
We engage in the election the same as in any other principle: you are to vote for good men, and if you do not do this it is a sin: to vote for wicked men, it would be sin. Choose the good and refuse the evil. Men of false principles have preyed upon us like wolves upon helpless lambs. Damn the rod of tyranny; curse it. Let every man use his liberties according to the Constitution. Don't fear man or devil; electioneer with all people, male and female, and exhort them to do the thing that is right. We want a President of the United States, not a party President, but a President of the whole people...and...have a President who will maintain every man in his rights. Hyrum Smith, 1844, DHC-6:323
We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles . The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. Thomas Jefferson (Letter to John Cartwright, 1824)
We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief. Ronald Reagan
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. Aesop
We have a firm commitment to NATO. We are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe. Vice President Al Gore
We have been a free country even though 'In God We Trust' is printed on our dollar bills, even though sessions of Congress begin with a prayer, and even though chaplains paid for by our tax dollars are part of our military forces. Our freedom does not depend on eliminating these acknowledgments of the power of religion; it relies instead on the fact that for many generations we have embraced a secular government operating in a religious culture. That embrace will be weakened, not strengthened, by silly attacks on religiosity, stimulating the spiritual to question the seriousness of people who profess a concern for civil liberties. James Wilson
We have confused the free with the free and easy. Adlai E. Stevenson
We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Doctrine and Covenants 121:39
(W)e have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. I believe it might be much simplified to the relief of those who maintain it. Thomas Jefferson (letter to W. Ludlow, 1824)
We have no fault to find with our government. We deem it the best in the world. But we have reason to deplore its maladministration, and I call upon our legislators, our governors and president to pause in their careers and not to tamper with the rights and liberties of American citizens, nor wantonly tear down the bulwarks of American and human liberty. God has given to us glorious institutions. Let us preserve them intact and not pander to the vices, passions, and fanaticism of a depraved public opinion. John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 23:65-66. April 9, 1882
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams (Address to the Military, 11 Oct 1798)
We have rights under the Constitution, and however much these may be denied to us, it is still our bounden duty to contend for them, not only in behalf of ourselves, but for all our fellow citizens and for our posterity, and for humanity generally throughout the world. Were we to do less than this, we would fail in performing the mission assigned to us, and be recreant to the high trust which God has reposed in us. John Taylor (Messages of the First Presidency, 3:12-14, 16, 19, 30
We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. James Madison
We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long as we remain honest -- which will be as long as we can keep the attention of our people alive. If they once become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors would all become wolves. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
We have to yet really seriously debate the constitutional issues and whether or not we're willing to give up more freedom in order to have more security. William Cohen, US Secretary of Defense, 3 Feb 1999
We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules, and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists. Thomas L. Friedman,New York Times, 13 Sep 2001
We have to keep in mind we are a nation under God, and if we ever forget that, we'll be just a nation under. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), US President
We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose. Libertarian Party Statement of Principles
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate. Thomas Jefferson
We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion....No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively. Thomas Jefferson (A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, Section I)
We lost the Republic in the classroom long before we lost it in the voting booth. Dr. Timothy C. Daughtry
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790 (At the signing of the Declaration of Independence)
We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another. Richard Nixon
We must become involved in civic affairs. As citizens of this republic we cannot do our duty and be idle spectators. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Nov 1987, p 102)
We must be devoted to sound principles in word and deed: principle above party, principle above pocketbook, principle above popularity. Ezra Taft Benson (God, Family, Country)
We must have in this country but one flag, and for the speech of the people but one language, the English language. Theodore Roosevelt, 4 Jul 1917
We must have no carelessness in our dealings with public property or the expenditure of public money. Such a condition is characteristic of undeveloped people, or of a decadent generation. Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), US President
We must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers. Are we reading the Constitution and pondering it? Are we aware of its principles? Are we abiding by these principles and teaching them to others? Could we defend the Constitution? Ezra Taft Benson ("Our Divine Constitution" p 6-7)
We must remove government's smothering hand from where it does harm; we must seek to revitalize the proper functions of government. We do these things to set loose again the energy and the ingenuity of the American people. We do these things to reinvigorate those social and economic institutions which serve as a buffer and a bridge between the individual and the state -- and which remain the real source of our progress as a people. Ronald Reagan, US President
We must use a judicial, rather than a political, standard to evaluate [a nominee's] fitness for the Supreme Court. That standard must be based on the fundamental principle that judges interpret and apply but do not make law. Senator Orrin Hatch, Sep 2005
We need more integrity in government. We need to be governed by men and women who are undivided in honorable purpose, whose votes and decisions are not for sale to the highest bidder. We need as our elected and appointed officials those whose characters are unsullied, whose lives are morally clean and open, who are not devious, selfish, or weak. We need men and women of courage and honest convictions, who will stand always ready to be counted for their integrity and not compromise for expediency, lust for power, or greed; and we need a people who will appreciate and support representatives of this caliber. N. Eldon Tanner, (Ensign, May 1977)
We're most likely to lose our rights when we allow ourselves to be persuaded to deprive others of theirs. L. Neil Smith
[W]e shall have the satisfaction of knowing that we have acted conscientiously, and have used our best judgment. And if we have to throw away our votes, we had better do so upon a worthy rather than an unworthy individual who might make use of the weapon we put in his hand to destroy us. Joseph Smith
We should acknowledge the Creator as did the founders in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from the God who gave us liberty. Mitt Romney, Presidential candidate, 6 Dec 2007
We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. John Adams (1797)
We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal. John Boehner, Speaker of the US House of Representatives
We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. George Orwell
We stand today at a crossroads: One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other leads to total extinction. Let us hope we have the wisdom to make the right choice. Woody Allen
We, the blessed beneficiaries, face difficult days in this beloved land, "a land which is choice above all other lands" (Ether 2:10). It may also cost us blood before we are through. It is my conviction, however, that when the Lord comes, the Stars and Stripes will be floating on the breeze over this people. May it be so, and may God give us the faith and the courage exhibited by those patriots who pledged their lives and fortunes that we might be free. Ezra Taft Benson, Mormon Prophet
We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln
We think, in America, that it is necessary to introduce the people into every department of government, as far as they are capable of exercising it, and that this is the only way to ensure a long continued and honest administration of its powers. Thomas Jefferson
We've witnessed a fire sale of American liberties at bargain basement prices, in return for the false promise of more security....The America being designed right now won't resemble the America we've been defending....The danger isn't that Big Brother may storm the castle gates. The danger is that Americans don't realize that he is already inside the castle walls. Wayne LaPierre
We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles. The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Cartwright, 1824)
What a glorious morning this is! Samuel Adams (to John Hancock at the Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, 19 Apr 1775)
What are the Bolshevicki? They are representatives of the most democratic government... in the world today. William Randolph Hearst (1918)
What are we talking about here? Freedom of religion? Or freedom from religion? What does the Constitution say? We've all read it: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." An establishment. That is the separation that must be kept. The Constitution does not separate religion as such from public or private life. Many of the Founding Fathers were reportedly not churchgoers but they were Deists. They believed in God. They intended that Americans would always have the right to worship in their own ways, and they embodied that right in the First Amendment. Prohibiting all religious expression in public events is therefore illegal. That includes non-sectarian prayer, the pledge of allegiance, displaying the Ten Commandments, etc. Prohibiting those expressions is just as illegal as it would be to pass a resolution declaring the United States to be a Christian country, or a Muslim country, or a Jewish country. No atheist should be punished for abstaining, and no believer should be prevented from praying. Rabbi Baruch Cohon
What diminishes a liberty you despise will inevitably diminish a liberty you cherish. Tom Gresham
[W]hat do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations....This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution. John Adams
What drives me nuts about all of the talk about deficits is how it makes the deficit seem like the disease rather than the symptom. The disease is a metastasizing federal government, the deficit is little more than a fever. When I listen to liberals and journalists complain about Bush's truly outrageous runaway spending, they make it sound as if runaway spending would be fine if we had a balanced budget. I don't want a huge federal government because I don't want a huge federal government, not because we're borrowing too much money. Whether or not Sweden has a balanced budget has precisely zero impact on my lack of desire to live there. There's a long list of reasons why big government is wrong: a big government is inefficient; it saps individual initiative; it imposes Washington's values on a vast nation of free people; it makes us all employees of the state and so on. I agree that a big deficit belongs on that list, but not anywhere near the top of it. Jonah Goldberg
Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace. Thomas Jefferson (letter to James Monroe, 24 Oct 1823)
Whatever makes good Christians, makes them good citizens. Daniel Webster
Whatever may be the judgment pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or whatever may be the destiny of the edifice prepared by them, I feel it a duty to express my profound and solemn conviction...that there never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them. James Madison, 1835
What great cause would have been fought under the banner "I stand for consensus"? Margaret Thatcher
What is a communist? One who hath yearnings for equal division of unequal earnings. Ebenezer Elliott
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. Salman Rushdie
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin. Mark Twain (1902)
What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from." Marilyn vos Savant
What secret knowledge, one must wonder, is breathed into lawyers when they become Justices of this [Supreme] Court, that enables them to discern that a practice which the text of the Constitution does not clearly proscribe, and which our people have regarded as constitutional for 200 years, is in fact unconstitutional? ... Day by day, case by case, [the Court] is busy designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize. US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 1996
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 19 Dec 1776)
When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state....this violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people. PJ O'Rourke
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people ... and ... becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression ... it is a ... sacred obligation to their posterity to abolish such government, and create another in its stead. Sam Houston
When a judge goes beyond [his proper function] and reads entirely new values into the Constitution, values the framers and ratifiers did not put there, he deprives the people of their liberty. That liberty, which the Constitution clearly envisions, is the liberty of the people to set their own social agenda through the process of democracy. Judge Robert Bork in his opening remarks at the Senate review of his appointment to the Supreme Court
When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated. Thomas Jefferson (letter to C. Hammond, 1821)
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. PJ O'Rourke
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. Thomas Jefferson
When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God. If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest. A President must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States. Mitt Romney, Presidential candidate, 6 Dec 2007
When I took the oath of office, it wasn't to my party or the President. It was to the Constitution. Tom Tancredo
When I was a kid everyone knew who [George] Washington was and what he accomplished, but few kids know about him today -- few understand how unique our political system is and how the incredible bounty we enjoy can be laid at the feet of Washington. Thus, all that Presidents Day is for a lot of folks is the best day of the year to get good deals on furniture and linen. Tom Purcell
When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law. Frederic Bastiat
When left-wing judges take it upon themselves to legislate from the bench, liberals are quick to say that the Constitution is a living document and that it has to evolve to accommodate a changing world. However, whenever a conservative suggests that the 14th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to any person born in America, ought to be changed in order to deny that gift to those born to illegal aliens, those same people carry on as if the Constitution, like the 10 Commandments, was carved in stone. Burt Prelutsky, Los Angeles Times columnist
When occasions present themselves, in which the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection. Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers
#71
Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers...a nullification of the act...is the rightful remedy. Thomas Jefferson
Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force. Thomas Jefferson
When the government fears the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny. Author Unknown
When the great work [of creating the Constitution] was done and published, I was struck with amazement. Nothing less than the superintending Hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war...could have brought it about so complete, upon the whole. Charles Pinckney, Author of the Pinckney Plan during the
Constitutional Convention (Essays on the Constitution, p 412)
When the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States, the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men, and extending the hand of fellowship to the oppressed of all nations.
John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, vol. 21, p. 8. August 31, 1879
When the public's right to know is threatened, all other public rights are threatened. Christopher Dodd, US Senator
When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income. Plato
When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned. Herbert Hoover
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'present' or 'not guilty.'" Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th US President
When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. Thomas Paine (Common Sense, 1776)
When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans....And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities. President Bill Clinton (MTV's "Enough is Enough", 1994)
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. Charles Evans Hughes
When you appeal to force, one thing you must never do is lose. Dwight D. Eisenhower
When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers 'just men who will rule in the fear of God.' The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes; Corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a Republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. Noah Webster
When you break the big laws, you do not get freedom; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (Daily News, 29 Jul 1905)
When you start talking about government as 'we' instead of 'they,' you have been in office too long. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
When you talk about taxing the rich, you're taxing capital, and taxing capital results in damage to more than just the wealthy. Rush Limbaugh
[W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community. Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (letter to David Ramsay, Circa April 1788)
Where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834-1902), 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
Whether some people want to admit it or not, our country would never have existed without our understanding that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed" not by their government "but by their creator with certain unalienable rights, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness." That's our foundation. The bottom line is simply this: the culture has to tune itself to a standard. The standard can't be changing. Because then the standard is not a standard. If you're a musician, you have to tune your instrument before you play it. You don't tune it to what you think, believe, or feel, you tune it to something that is forever fixed. So, we tune our culture, our civilization, our country to something that is fixed. We tune it to the faith that is part of our founding. We tune it to our constitution. We tune it to those institutions that are our foundation. And that's why I hope that my children got that growing up, that you cannot have an America without God. You simply cannot have America without God. Governor Mike Huckabee, 27 Feb 2021 at CPAC
While it may be good to educate our young on how many years a Senator serves, or how Supreme Court justices are appointed, it's not enough. Seriously lacking in the public discourse is the actual purpose of the Constitution -- its underlying principles. Michael Boldin
While many Americans assume the federal government sits at the top of the power pyramid, it actually belongs on the bottom. Michael Maharrey
While the words "conservative" and "liberal" are ubiquitously used to describe Republicans and Democrats respectively, these words properly should describe whether one advocates for the conservation of our Constitution, as originally intended, or its liberal interpretation by judicial activists. Does one want to conserve Constitutional limits on the central government, or liberate those limits? Federalist Patriot 16 Sep 2005
While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian. George Washington (1778)
Whoever claims the right to redistribute the wealth produced by others is claiming the right to treat human beings as chattel. Ayn Rand
Whoever prefers life to death, happiness to suffering, well-being to misery must defend without compromise private ownership in the means of production. Ludwig von Mises, economist
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Benjamin Franklin
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint. Alexander Hamilton (The Federalist Papers
#15)
Why should I trade one tyrant 3000 miles away for 3000 tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights as easily as a King can. Benjamin Martin (The Patriot, played by Mel Gibson)
Why should jurists feel compelled to defer to unconstitutional precedent that was born of the casting aside of constitutional precedent? Selwyn Duke
Will the Constitution be destroyed? No: it will be held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, "The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At that critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction." It will be so. Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, Vol 7, p 15, 4 Jul 1854)
Without allegiance to the Constitution it doesn't matter one hill of beans which party is in power! Chuck Baldwin
Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness. James Wilson (Of the Study of the Law in the United States, Circa 1790)
Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments. Charles Carroll, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
With respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. James Madison
Would you be willing to give up your favorite federal government program if it meant never having to pay income tax again? Harry Browne (1933-2006)
Year after year in Washington, budget debates seem to come down to an old, tired argument: on one side, those who want more government, regardless of the cost; on the other, those who want less government, regardless of the need....Government has a role, and an important role. Yet, too much government crowds out initiative and hard work, private charity and the private economy....Government should be active, but limited; engaged, but not overbearing. President George W. Bush, 27 Feb 2001
Yes, we did produce a near perfect republic, but will they keep it, or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction. Thomas Jefferson, US President
You and I are told we must choose between a left or a right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream: the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Ronald Reagan, US President
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done. Ronald Reagan, US President
You and I have heard all our lives that the time may come when the Constitution may hang by a thread. I do not know whether it is a thread, or a small rope by which it now hangs, but I do know that whether it shall live or die is now in the balance. J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, October 1942
You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
You are not what you believe in, you are what you will fight for! Boston T. Party
You are to vote for good men, and if you do not do this it is a sin: to vote for wicked men, it would be a sin....Men of false principles have preyed upon us like wolves upon helpless lambs....Let every man use his liberties according to the Constitution....We want a President of the U.S., not a party President, but a President of the whole people; for a party President disenfranchises the opposite party. Have a President who will maintain every man in his rights....I despise the principle that divides the nation into party and faction....Damn the system of splitting up the nation into opposite belligerent parties. Whatever are the rights of men guaranteed by the Constitution of these United States, let them have them. Then, if we were all in union, no one dare attempt to put a warlike foot on our soil. I don't like to see the rights of Americans trampled down. Hyrum Smith (History of the Church, 6:323)
You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
You can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think. Milton Berle
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. Rev. William J. H. Boetcker (1916)
You cannot get freedom back by defending what you have left. Tommy Crier
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 (19312005)
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free. Clarence Darrow
You can't escape politics. You either play or get played. Hetty Lange
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) 37th US President (1963-1969)
You get the same order of criminality from any State to which you give power to exercise it; and whatever power you give the State to do things for you carries with it the equivalent power to do things to you. Albert Jay Nock (1870-1945) (The Criminality of the State, American Mercury Magazine, Mar 1939)
You give me a credit to which I have no claim in calling me 'the writer of the Constitution of the United States.' This was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom, the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands. James Madison, letter to William Cogswell, 1834
You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe. John Adams, Second President of the United States
You have to ask yourself a question: "What's the purpose of the private sector -- to support government?" And if the answer is, "Yes, it is," then you're a Democrat. Rush Limbaugh, 12 Aug 2010
You have to reduce individual freedom for the public good. Luke Garrott, Salt Lake City councilman
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 the struggle for independence. Charles A. Beard
Your constitution guarantees to every citizen, even the humblest, the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. It promises to all, religious freedom, the right to all to worship God beneath their own vine and fig tree, according to the dictates of their conscience. It guarantees to all the citizens of the several states the right to become citizens of any one of the states, and to enjoy all the rights and immunities of the citizens of the state of his adoption. Joseph Smith Jr., Mormon Prophet (HC 4:37)
Your love of liberty - your respect for the laws - your habits of industry - and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness. George Washington (letter to the Residents of Boston, 27 Oct 1789)
You say that freedom of utterance is not for time of stress, and I reply with the sad truth that only in time of stress is freedom of utterance in danger....Only when free utterance is suppressed is it needed, and when it is needed it is most vital to justice. William Allen White (1868-1944)
You were born free by accident. You live free by choice. To die free is your responsibility. LTG Russel L. Honorι
You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. John Adams
While we thank them for their support of this website, the ol' Buffalo had no role in picking the GoogleAds herein. Their appearance is not an endorsement by the Ol' Buffalo.
, 6:499)
[2002]
, p 206)
, p 358)
, p 13)
, 1833)
, p 319-320)
, 1940)
, 1765)
)
, p 592)
