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

  62 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  160 Copy quote

• 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.

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  33 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  590 Copy quote

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

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Philosophical, Power, Majority

  54 Copy quote

• 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

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  0 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Elmer Davis

  Coward, India, Preserves

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  60 Copy quote

  Show source

• The state is nothing but an instrument of opression of one class by another - no less so in a democratic republic than in a monarchy.

  Friedrich Engels

  Class, States, Instruments

  104 Copy quote

• 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”

  1 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Military, Citizens, Weight

  Speech, New York, N.Y., 11 Nov. 1902

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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'

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Freedom isn't free. It shouldn't be a bragging point that 'Oh, I don't get involved in politics,' as if that makes someone cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.

  Bill Maher

  Liars, Government, People

  Bill Maher (2003). “When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism”, New Millenium

  71 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is our sacred duty to transmit unimpaired to our posterity the blessings of liberty which were bequeathed to us by the founders of the Republic.

  Andrew Johnson

  Blessing, Liberty, Sacred

  Andrew Johnson (1967). “The Papers of Andrew Johnson: September 1868-April 1869”, p.288, Univ. of Tennessee Press

  30 Copy quote

  Show source

• Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Freedom, Character, People

  Benjamin Franklin (1840). “The Works of Benjamin Franklin: Containing Several Political and Historical Tracts Not Included in Any Former Edition, and Many Letters, Official and Private, Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author”, p.297

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.

  Seneca the Younger

  Country, 4th Of July, Patriotic

  7 Copy quote

• Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."

  Benjamin Franklin

  Doctors, Philadelphia, Independence

  12 Copy quote

• Our republic and its press will rise and fall together.

  Joseph Pulitzer

  Fall, Freedom Of Speech, Together

  41 Copy quote