Sayings
Issue #96 Posted  July, 2015

"In the United states you are now free to live as you wish; unless you are white, straight, conservative, a Christian, a gun owner, or a southerner." -- Anonymous

"I have a dream. A dream that America will wake up from the Liberal Nightmare that plagues the peaceful sleep and lives of Constitution lovers everywhere. I have a dream. A dream that the pestilence of Political Correctness and all its debilitating symptoms will be erased from the face of the Earth. I have a dream. A dream that God Fearing, Liberty Loving people everywhere will, once again, flourish under the umbrella of peace and prosperity that only Liberty can provide. " -- Excerpt from the speech that MLK SHOULD have given. (Thanks to Chuck R.)

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state it is but an intolerable one." -- Thomas Paine

"The first step in liquidating a people is to erase it's memory. Destroy its books, it's culture, it's history." -- Milan Kundera

"No longer could we reflect, with generous pride, on the heroic actions of our American forefathers ... if we, but for a moment entertain the thought of giving up our liberty." -- Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration, 1775

"Make no mistake about it, the brown people from the south, with their dependent El Jeffe mentality, and no concept of freedom, are the death knell of this country." -- Chuck B.

"The pyramid of government -- and a republican government may well receive that beautiful and solid form -- should be raised to a dignified altitude: but its foundations must, of consequence, be broad, and strong, and deep. The authority, the interests, and the affections of the people at large are the only foundation, on which a superstructure proposed to be at once durable and magnificent, can be rationally erected." -- James Wilson, Legislative Department, 1804

"Thought for the day: Everyone has the right to be an idiot. Too bad so many abuse the privilege. -- Unknown

"It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. Its called living." -- Sir Terry Pratchett

"The only thing you have 100% control over in your fight is the preparation you put into it." -- Annon

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair

"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." -- D. H. Lawrence

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster." -- Nietzsche

"We cannot tolerate the proliferation of this paperwork any longer. It is useless to fight the forms. We must kill the people producing them." -- Attributed to Vladimir Kabaidze, Director of the Ivanovo Machine Works near Moscow, in a speech before the annual Communist Party Congress, 1936

The following 11 quotes are from the Sci Fibook "The Empire’s Corps" by Christofer Nuttall, a story of the Marine Corps of the time. These excerpts are used as headings throughout the book and are quotes from a banned book in the story written by a Professor Leo Caesius, titled The Waning Years of Empire. If you substitute "US" for "Empire," "states" for colonies," "citizens" for "colonists," and use today’s terms for some of the esoteric concepts in the book, the quotes are rather telling.

"There is an old saying," the frail pauper said. "The truth, to the overwhelming majority of mankind, is indistinguishable from a headache."

"What is won by soldiers, at a high cost, is often given away by political leaders."

"If there is one issue that can be traced as causing the decline of Empire, it is the lack of civil virtue within the ranks of the government and military. Instead of facing unpleasant truths, government officers and irresponsible bureaucrats—who are never held to account—allow the problems to grow larger. On a smaller scale, given opportunities to enrich themselves, soldiers and policemen have become incredibly corrupt, destroying the trust in Empire that made the Empire work."

"Among the Marines, there is a culture of personal dedication, personal responsibility and service—service to the Marine Corps and its ideal. A Marine learns to take and shoulder responsibility, or stays out of the chain of command. Outside the Marines, it is harder and harder to find examples where power and responsibility are evenly balanced; power without responsibility is the rule. The results, alas, are predicable. The Empire’s rulers possess no loyalty to anything beyond themselves."

"It is impossible to exaggerate the levels of corruption present at all levels within the Empire. Senators routinely accept bribes from contractors; civil servants frequently steal or ‘mislay’ vital supplies for their own purposes; military officers cheat their men of their wages, or vital training hours … it is a problem so deeply rooted within the Empire that it may be impossible to even begin to eradicate it. And yet, just by existing, corruption breeds corruption; juniors see their seniors feeding from the trough and wonder … why can’t they do the same? The answer is, always, that they can."

"One of the many symptoms of decline is the sudden profusion of intelligence agencies. Where once Imperial Intelligence (the dreaded Double Eyes) handled all of the Empire’s intelligence requirements, there are now dozens of different intelligence agencies. Some work for specific branches of the armed forces—Naval Intelligence, Marine Intelligence—while others work for individual Senators and even for the media. The results have not been good."

"There is a joke that runs ‘a nation is a group of people united by a shared delusion of the past and a hatred of their neighbors.’ Like many such jokes, there is a hard kernel of truth within the humor. Society is always a consensus, a shared understanding of right and wrong. If ‘wrong’ becomes ‘right’—i.e. behavior tending to increase a person’s chances of survival—then society will be warped and destroyed. This is becoming alarmingly clear all across the Empire."

"The fundamental problem with human rights is that there is no such thing as a human right. By definition, a right is something that is not only self-evident, but impossible to remove. Few, if any, of the human rights cited by lawyers across the Empire meet that definition. Regardless, it is self-evident that rights come with responsibilities, yet the vast majority of the Empire’s population demands the former without the latter. Such a system cannot survive for long."

"One of the most dangerous signs of decline is the sudden reluctance to tolerate different points of view in political debate. Questions and issues that were discussed freely are suddenly forbidden, limiting the realm of political science. The reluctance to question the fundamental basis of our culture and society is, in itself, crippling free enquiry and freedom of speech."

"One of the commonest signs of social decline lies in the separation of the elites from the masses. Where the elites—the leadership—share the concerns of their people, government proceeds smoothly. Where the elites are physically and socially separated from their people, they start designing policies that are actively harmful to the masses. This is nowhere clearer than it is in the issue of criminal justice."

"Increasingly, the young men and women of the Empire—those born to the Middle and High Classes, at least—are concentrating on living for the now and not thinking about the future. They sense, however dimly, that the Empire has no future."

"The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men." -- Alexander Hamilton

"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will . . . . My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit . . . . My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights, and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes, and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will . . . . Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but Peace!" -- "My Rifle" The Creed of a United States Marine, By Major General William H. Rupertus, U.S.M.C.

"I will not abridge my freedoms so as not to offend savages." -- Pamela Geller, AFDI president and Muhammad cartoon contest organizer

"Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril." -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"No country can be called free which is governed by an absolute power; and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or an absolute legislative power, as the consequences will be the same to the people." -- Thomas Paine, Four Letters on Interesting Subjects, 1776

"[A] good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous." -- George Washington

"[It seems that] we have already proven beyond any doubt that we do not consider our culture worth defending any more.: -- Bill J.

"I often note with equal pleasure that God gave this one connected country to one united people -- a people descended from the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in manners and customs, who by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side through a long bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence." -- John Jay, Federalist No. 2, 1787

"On the other hand, the duty imposed upon him [the president] to take care, that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will "preserve, protect, and defend the constitution." The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offense, or defense; for the redress of grievances, or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people." -- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." -- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, 1775

"[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, Letter to David Ramsay, 1788

"If individuals be not influenced by moral principles; it is in vain to look for public virtue; it is, therefore, the duty of legislators to enforce, both by precept and example, the utility, as well as the necessity of a strict adherence to the rules of distributive justice." -- James Madison, in response to Washington's first Inaugural address, 1789

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

"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, Federalist No. 33, 1788

"The most perfect freedom consists in obeying the dictates of right reason, and submitting to natural law. When a man goes beyond or contrary to the law of nature and reason, he becomes the slave of base passions and vile lusts; he introduces confusion and disorder into society, and brings misery and destruction upon himself. This, therefore, cannot be called a state of freedom, but a state of the vilest slavery and the most dreadful bondage. The servants of sin and corruption are subjected to the worst kind of tyranny in the universe. Hence we conclude that where licentiousness begins, liberty ends." -- Samuel West, On the Right to Rebel Against Governors, 1776

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." -- George Washington

"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, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

"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, Federalist No. 63, 1788

"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, 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

"Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force." -- John Adams, Speech on Independence Day to the House of Representatives, 1821

"Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions." -- James Madison

"[J]udges ... should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men." -- John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." -- George Washington

"Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, 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 superior to all private passions." -- John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, 1776

"Be not intimidated ... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice." -- John Adams (1765)

"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible." -- George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

"Sit tall in the saddle, hold your head up high Keep your eyes fixed where the trail meets the sky And live like you ain't afraid to die And don't be scared, just enjoy your ride." -- Chris LeDoux

"[I]t is of the greatest consequence that the debt should ... be remoulded into such a shape as will bring the expenditure of the nation to a level with its income. Till this shall be accomplished, the finances of the United States will never wear proper countenance." -- Alexander Hamilton

""NO" is the most powerful word in the English language. Use it." -- Bill J.

"A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the objects of the government; secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained." --Joseph Story

"Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty." -- President Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933)

"But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go." -- Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

"[I]t is more convenient to prevent the passage of a law, than to declare it void after it has passed." -- James Madison, to Thomas Jefferson, 1787

"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, Lectures on Law, 1790

"It is our duty to endeavor always to promote the general good; to do to all as we would be willing to be done by were we in their circumstances; to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. These are some of the laws of nature which every man in the world is bound to observe, and which whoever violates exposes himself to the resentment of mankind, the lashes of his own conscience, and the judgment of Heaven. This plainly shows that the highest state of liberty subjects us to the law of nature and the government of God." -- Samuel West, On the Right to Rebel Against Governors, 1776

"A constitution defines and limits the powers of the government it creates. It therefore follows, as a natural and also a logical result, that the governmental exercise of any power not authorized by the constitution is an assumed power, and therefore illegal." -- Thomas Paine, Constitutions, Governments, and Charters, 1805

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." -- George Washington

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." -- English statesman William Pitt (1708-1778)

"If newsmen do not tell the truth as they see it because it might make waves, or if their bosses decide something should or should not be broadcast because of Washington or Main Street consequences, we have dishonored ourselves and we have lost the First Amendment by default." -- former CBS News President Richard Salant (1914-1993)

"If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude and all the other qualities which ennoble the character of a nation and fulfill the ends of government be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre, which it has never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set, which cannot but have the most favourable influence on the rights on Mankind. If on the other side, our governments should be unfortunately blotted with the reverse of these cardinal and essential virtues, the great cause which we have engaged to vindicate, will be dishonored and betrayed; the last and fairest experiment in favor of the rights of human nature will be turned against them; and their patrons and friends exposed to be insulted and silenced by the votaries of tyranny and usurpation." -- James Madison, Address to the States, 1783

"Free speech IS hate speech; it's for the speech you hate -- and for all your speech that the other guy hates. If you don't have free speech, then you can't have an honest discussion." -- Mark Steyn

"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Martha Jefferson, 1787

"It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him." -- Thomas Jefferson (1785)

"Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power." -- Thomas Jefferson, The Kentucky Resolutions, 1799

"It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The finger-pointers and hand-wringers of today were the policy makers of yesterday, and they gave us economic stagflation and double digit inflation. There was only one thing fair about their policies: They didn't discriminate, they made everyone miserable." -- Ronald Reagan

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." -- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives." -- John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756

"Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them." -- Benjamin Franklin, letter to Collinson, 1753

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