Body

Sayings
Issue #98 Posted Nov., 2015

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell

"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." -- C. S. Lewis

"Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it." -- Mark Twain

"There was never a slave who did not choose to be a slave. The choice may be between bondage or death but the choice is always there." -- Tyrion Lannister - Game Of Thrones

"Pride In Working" is a concept that the cultural revolution has nearly succeeded in turning into something to be ashamed of." -- Bill J.

"Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work." -- Chuck Close, painter and photographer

Liberals think that wanting to own a firearm or voting for anyone other than a liberal democrat makes you mentally ill. In the conservative view hoplophobia (fear of weapons) and socialism are mental diseases. Ultimately, the side with the most guns decides what loonies go to the loony bin." -- Annon

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein

"Freedom is enjoyed when you are so well armed, or so turbulent, or inhabit a country so thorny that the expense of your neighbor's occupying you is greater than the profit." -- TE Lawrence

"One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived." -- Niccolo Machiavelli

"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, 1788

"I don't feel better if a mugger tells me he's taking my wallet because he wants a better life for himself and his family." -- Lyman L.

"The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity." -- George Washington, letter to the people of South Carolina, 1790

"Peace fails when we forget what we stand for. It fails when we forget that our Republic is based on firm principles, principles that have real meaning, that with them, we are the last, best hope of man on Earth; without them, we're little more than the crust of a continent. Peace also fails when we forget to bring to the bargaining table God's first intellectual gift to man: common sense. ... We endanger the peace and confuse all issues when we obscure the truth; when we refuse to name an act for what it is; when we refuse to see the obvious and seek safety in Almighty. Peace is only maintained and won by those who have clear eyes and brave minds. ... [P]eace fails when we forget to pray to the source of all peace and life and happiness. ... Today, as never before, we must pledge to remember the things that will continue the peace. Today, as never before, we must pray for God's help in broadening and deepening the peace we enjoy. Let us pray for freedom and justice and a more stable world." -- Ronald Reagan

"To model our political system upon speculations of lasting tranquility, is to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character." -- Alexander Hamilton

"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." -- James Madison, Essay on Property, 1792

"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

"Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasoning's and a system of measures, correspondingly erroneous." -- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 35, 1788

"[T]he jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government." -- George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

"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

"History by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views." -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781

"As riches increase and accumulate in few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard. This is the real disposition of human nature; it is what neither the honorable member nor myself can correct. It is a common misfortunate that awaits our State constitution, as well as all others." -- Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788

"[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

wrote, "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, 1775

"May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy." -- George Washington (1790)

"Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No, to this question, is an Independent for independency means no more than this, whether we shall make our own laws, or, whether the King, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us there shall be no laws but such as I like." -- 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

"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government." -- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, 1787

"If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation." -- Samuel Adams (1780)

"We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it." -- George Washington, letter to James Madison, 1785

"[A]ll are subject by nature to equal laws of morality, and in society have a right to equal laws for their government, yet no two men are perfectly equal in person, property, understanding, activity, and virtue, or ever can be made so by any power less than that which created them." -- John Adams, Discourse on Davila - XV, 1776

"A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support." -- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1792

"[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

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing." -- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

"But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed." -- George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

"What concerns all, should be considered by all; and individuals may injure a whole society, by not declaring their sentiments. It is therefore not only their right, but their duty, to declare them." -- John Dickinson, Letters of Fabius, 1788

"The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it." -- James Wilson, Of the Study of Law in the United States, 1790

"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

"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

"[T]he most productive system of finance will always be the least burdensome." -- James Madison, Federalist No. 39, 1788

"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

"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." -- John Quincy Adams

"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, Federalist No. 71, 1788

"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." – Thomas Jefferson (17774)

"[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

"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. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition." -- Thomas Jefferson (1785)

"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." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Charles Jarvis, 1820

"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, 1829

"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." -- John Adams, A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787

"We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won Country's Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions." -- George Washington, General Orders, 1776

"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, 180

"The invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents." -- James Madison, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1788

"[T]he success of the usurpation will depend on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and give effect to the legislative acts; and in a last resort a remedy must be obtained from the people, who can by the elections of more faithful representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers." -- James Madison, Federalist No. 44, 1788

"On every question of construction 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, 1823

"[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer ... [taking] away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence of somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health for support in age and sickness." -- Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor

"The world kills the very good, the very gentle, and the very brave impartially. When you are none of these, you can be sure it will kill you too. There will just be no particular hurry." -- Hemmingway

"Since no politician ever believes what he says, he is quite surprised when taken at his word!" -- Charles de Gaulle

"There are no morals in politics; only expedience." -- Vladimir Lenin (who would feel right at home in Washington DC, NY, CT, and CA today!)

"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. 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, Federalist No. 62, 1788

"There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities; so many alms-houses for the aged of both sexes, together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful; and do they use their best endeavours to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this burthen?" -- Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor, London Chronicle, 1766

"Illustrious examples are displayed to our view, that we may imitate as well as admire. Before we can be distinguished by the same honors, we must be distinguished by the same virtues. What are those virtues? They are chiefly the same virtues, which we have already seen to be descriptive of the American character -- the love of liberty, and the love of law." -- James Wilson, Of the Study of the Law in the United States, 1790

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1795

2015-6