Republic Quotes

• Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.

  Joseph Story

  Wise, Fall, Order

  Joseph Story (1834). “The Constitutional Class Book: Being a Brief Exposition of the Constitution of the United States: Designed for the Use of the Higher Classes in Common Schools”, p.154

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• When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Evil, Voting, Principles

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• What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Law, Sacred, Constitution

  American Daily Advertiser, August 28, 1794.

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• In the history of mankind many republics have risen, have flourished for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves and thereby of governing their state; and in no way has this loss of power been so often and so clearly shown as in the tendency to turn the government into a government primarily for the benefit of one class instead of a government for the benefit of the people as a whole.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Loss, Class, Government

  Theodore Roosevelt (1904). “Addresses and Presidential Messages of Theodore Roosevelt, 1902-1904”

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• Ours is a representative republic with a Constitution in which is recognized the natural law and the natural rights of man. It is a republic with a spiritual foundation characterized by freedom - freedom for the individual and for his society.

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Spiritual, Men, Rights

  Ezra Taft Benson (1969). “An enemy hath done this”

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• One of the greatest perils to an extensive republic is the disregard of individual rights.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Rights, Individual, Disregard

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• Let it be said: Loyalty to the New World Order is disloyalty to the
  Republic

  Pat Buchanan

  Loyalty, Order, World

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• Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Years, People, Needs

  Letter to the Abbés Chalut and Arnaud, April 17, 1787.

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• I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Country, Money, Hands

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• In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Philosophical, Power, Majority

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• Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination. On the contrary, laws, under no form of government, are better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness more effectually dispensed to mankind.

  George Washington

  Happiness, Government, Law

  George Washington (1855). “Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious”, p.20

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• Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling.

  John Wayne

  War, Mean, People

  "Fictional character: Davy Crockett". "The Alamo", 1960.

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• This republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.

  Elmer Davis

  Coward, India, Preserves

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• The Founders knew that a democracy would lead to some kind of tyranny. The term democracy appears in none of our Founding documents. Their vision for us was a Republic and limited government.

  Walter E. Williams

  Government, Vision, Democracy

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• Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule.

  Gerald R. Ford

  Work, Men, Law

  Remarks upon taking oath of office, 9 Aug. 1974

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• A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

  Edward Abbey

  Inspirational, Country, Freedom

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.17, RosettaBooks

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• A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Simple, Men, Good Man

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.99, Race Point Publishing

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• Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.

  John Marshall

  Differences, Democracies Have, Order

  John Marshall (1836). “The life of George Washington: commander in chief of the American forces, during the war which established the independence of his country, and first president of the United States”, p.447

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• The people are not always well-informed, but is better that they have misconceptions that make them restless than that they be lethargic-for lethargy in the people means death for republics.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, People, Restless

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• The Republican form of government is the highest form of government: but because of this it requires the highest type of human nature, a type nowhere at present existing.

  Herbert Spencer

  Nature, Thinking, Government

  'Essays' (1891) vol. 3 'The Americans'

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• The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Hands, Voting, American Voters

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fall, Independence, Heirs

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter,to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens and greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended.

  James Madison

  Country, Differences, Numbers

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government”, p.58, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic.

  Joseph Story

  Gun, Liberty, Second Amendment

  Joseph Story (1833). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.708

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• Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.

  Baron de Montesquieu

  Tyrants, Luxury, Poverty

  "The Spirit of the Laws" by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Book VII: Consequences of the Different Principles of the Three Governments with Respect to Sumptuary Laws, Luxury and the Condition of Women, Ch. 4: Of Sumptuary Laws in a Monarchy, 1748.

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