Eternal Vigilance Quotes

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  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

  Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

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• I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as eternal dirt.

  George Orwell

  Freedom, Thinking, Liberty

  George Orwell (2016). “The Road to Wigan Pier”, p.50, Jester House Publishing

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• The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

  Desmond Tutu

  Memorial Day, Peace, Freedom

  62 Copy quote
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  In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.

  Mark Twain

  Change, Thank You, Memorial Day

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.351, Courier Corporation

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  The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Thomas Paine (1817). “The Political Works of Thomas Paine: In Two Volumes”

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• Voting is no substitute for the eternal vigilance that every friend of freedom must demonstrate towards government. If our freedom is to survive, Americans must become far better informed of the dangers from Washington -- regardless of who wins the Presidency.

  James Bovard

  Winning, Government, Voting

  21 Copy quote

• If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

  James Madison

  Adversity, Angel, Men

  The Federalist no. 51 (1788)

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• 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.

  Andrew Jackson

  Freedom, Military, Blessing

  Andrew Jackson (1837). “Messages ...: With a Short Sketch of His Life”, p.436

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• Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  The American Crisis, 12 Sept. 1777

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• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

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  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  Lord Acton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Work

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

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• It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions 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 the punishment of his guilt.

  John Philpot Curran

  Fate, Men, Rights

  Speech on the right of election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, 10 July 1790. Usually quoted as "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," which has been attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but no one has ever found this in his writings. Atkinson's Casket, Sept. 1833, has "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." See Andrew Jackson 5

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• No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

  Douglas MacArthur

  Inspirational, Freedom, Patriotic

  Title of speech to the people of Japan, May 3, 1948, upon the first anniversary of the Japanese constitution. MacArthur, A Soldier Speaks (1965), p. 194. Francis T. Miller, General Douglas MacArthur, Fighter for Freedom, p. 1, 1942.

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• A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Success, Witty, Memorial Day

  First Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 1953

  433 Copy quote

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• Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

  Frederick Douglass

  Freedom, Power, Tyrants

  Speech, Canandaigua, N.Y., 4 Aug. 1857

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• You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings.

  Andrew Jackson

  Blessing, Pay The Price, Addiction

  Andrew Jackson (1837). “Messages ...: With a Short Sketch of His Life”, p.436

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• 

  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

  Edmund Burke

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Witty

  330 Copy quote

• 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

  Freedom, Patriotic, Libertarian Party

  "Strictly Personal" by W. Somerset Maugham, (ch. 31), 1941.

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• Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.

  Wendell Phillips

  Liberty, Esprit De Corps, Stealing

  Wendell Phillips (1863). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters”, p.52

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• For those looking for security, be forewarned that there's nothing more insecure than a political promise.

  Harry Browne

  Insecure, Political, Promise

  59 Copy quote

• The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Ignorance, Voting

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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• Against us are all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty We are likely to preserve the liberty we have obtained only by unremitting labors and perils.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Sea, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.416, Cambridge University Press

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• 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 rights of the individual.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wisdom, Law, Tyrants

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.224, Cambridge University Press

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• The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.

  Thomas Paine

  Names, Causes, Tyranny

  67 Copy quote

• The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.

  Wendell Phillips

  Men, Liberty, Prohibition

  12 Copy quote