Founder’s (and other’s) Notable Quotes
“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if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.” – James Madison
“Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither” – Benjamin Franklin
“I believe 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
“That government is best which governs least.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” – Frederick Douglass
“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
“[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.” – Benjamin Rush
“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 (Letter to George Washington, 1791)
“It’s always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.” – John Steinbeck (from “The Moon is Down“)
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
“It is axiomatic: When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate.” – George Will
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” – Thomas Jefferson
“In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society.” – Abraham Lincoln
“When the revolution comes, grab your guns and head to the street. If you’re the only one there, then it isn’t time.” – The Internet
“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
“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
“[White House Press Secretary] Jay Carney, whose unenviable job is not to explain but to explain away what his employers say, calls the IRS’ behavior ‘inappropriate.’ No, using the salad fork for the entrée is inappropriate. Using the IRS for political purposes is a criminal offense.” – George Will
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” –Thomas Jefferson
“It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness. They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant.” – Calvin Coolidge
“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
“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
“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 No. 45
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would 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
“For it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of injuring their rights are in the possession of those [toward] whom they entertain the least suspicion.” – Alexander Hamilton
“The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on 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
“I thank God that I have lived to see my country independent and free. She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if she will. It depends on her virtue.” – Samuel Adams
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell
“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.” – James Madison
“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
“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
“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions.” – James Madison
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” – Benjamin Franklin
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” – John Adams
“But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. 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.” – Samuel Adams
“The fragmentation of power produced by the structure of our Government is central to liberty, and when we destroy it, we place liberty at peril. Today’s decision should have vindicated, should have taught, this truth; instead, our judgment today has disregarded it.” – Dissenting Opinion, US Supreme Court, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire
“The moral question that confronts us is, is there a moral case for taking what belongs to one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? Now don’t misunderstand me. I personally believe in helping one’s fellow man in need. I believe that it is moral and praiseworthy to help one’s fellow man in need by reaching into your own pockets to help him out. I think it is worthy of condemnation and it is despicable when you help your fellow man in need by reaching into someone else’s pockets.” – Walter Williams
“It is not the right of property which is protected, but the right to property. Property, per se, has no rights; but the individual – the man – has three great rights, equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right to his life, the right to his liberty, the right to his property.” – Justice George Sutherland
“We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.” – Winston Churchill
“Article I contains no whatever-it-takes-to-solve-a-national-problem power.” – Minority opinion on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), U.S. Supreme Court
“One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary.” – Ayn Rand