Freedom And Liberty Quotes - Page 10

• I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.

  George Mason

  Gun, People, Second Amendment

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  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.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Government

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.29, Vintage

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• The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.

  Samuel Adams

  Country, Liberty, Hazards

  Samuel Adams (1968). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1770-1773”

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• A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.

  G. Gordon Liddy

  Inspirational, Funny, Money

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• Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

  Frederick Douglass

  Freedom, Patriotic, Men

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

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  Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!

  Pericles

  Inspirational, Trust, Witty

  "American Voters Suffer Learned Helplessness" by Andrea Chalupa, bigthink.com. September 7, 2012.

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• It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Libertarian Party, Government, People

  Benjamin Franklin, William Temple Franklin (1819). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin...: Posthumous and other writings”, p.111

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• Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

  Edmund Burke

  Long, People, Political

  'Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol' (1777) p. 71

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• The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

  H. L. Mencken

  Time, Freedom, Fighting

  "Shut Down Chick-fil-A Properly" by James Peron, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 25, 2012.

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• If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Inspirational, Humor, Thinking

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut”, p.228, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.

  William J. Clinton

  Gun, Rights, Government

  Clinton, William J. (1994). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1993”, p.223, Best Books on

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• Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Patriotism, Liberty, Civil Rights

  Thomas Jefferson, John Dewey (2008). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.66, Courier Corporation

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• The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Government, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Inaugural addresses and messages. Replies to public addresses. Indian addresses. Miscellaneous: 1. Notes on Virginia; 2. Biographical sketches of distinguished men; 3. The batture of New Orleans”, p.400

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• With respect to the 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

  Character, Government, Liberty

  James Madison's letter to James Robertson, April 20, 1831.

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• The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.

  Albert Einstein

  Country, Weed, War

  Albert Einstein (2010). “Ideas And Opinions”, p.6, Broadway Books

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• Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Presidential, Liberty, Libertarian

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• Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

  Hermann Goring

  Country, Peace, Military

  Interview in Göring's jail cell, April 18, 1946. "Nuremberg Diary". Book by Gustave Gilbert, 1947.

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• When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of free government.

  Grover Cleveland

  Patriotic, Government, People

  Second Annual Message, December 1886.

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• The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Atheist, Government

  Notes on the State of Virginia, query 17 (1781 - 1785)

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• When all government ...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

  Freedom, Truth, Knowledge

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.216

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• Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Gun, Law, Strong Arms

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• Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

  James Bovard

  Humor, Two, Democracies Have

  James Bovard (2016). “Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty”, p.333, St. Martin's Griffin

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• The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Peace, Freedom, War

  Olmstead v. United States (dissenting opinion) (1928)

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• In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Memorial Day, Freedom, 4th Of July

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1938). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1936, Volume 5”, p.358, Best Books on

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• Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.

  James Madison

  Education, Light, People

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.41, University of Virginia Press

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