Sunday, December 8, 2013

Something Much to be Regretted

"It is much to be regretted, however common the case is, that men who possess talents which fit them for peculiar purposes should almost invariably be under the influence of an untoward disposition, or are sottish idle, or possessed of some other disqualification by which they plague all those with whom they are concerned."

~George Washington, letter to David Stuart, Philadelphia, November 20, 1791

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

A Region of Paradise

"“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God...what a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

~ John Adams, diary entry for February 22, 1756

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Establishing the Principles of Secure Freedom

"Statesmen may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand."

~John Adams

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Inconveniences

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it."

~Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Way to Enslave

"[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."

~George Mason, debate in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Original First Amendment Draft

"The Civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, be infringed."

~James Madison; First Draft of the First Amendment

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Vices

"If Heaven punishes Communities for their Vices, how sore must be the Punishment of that Community who think the Rights of human Nature not worth struggling for and patiently submit to Tyranny."

~John Adams

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

By the Hand of Divinity

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

~ Alexander Hamilton

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Foundations

"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. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies."

~John Adams

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Our Guide

"The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon."

~George Washington

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Where We Stand

"Always stand on Principle, even if you stand alone."

~John Quincy Adams

Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Duty of the Patriot

"The patriot, like the Christian, must learn that to bear revilings and persecutions is a part of his duty; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command. But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for its exercise are repeated. In this I am persuaded we shall have the benefit of your good example." ~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Judge Sullivan (May 21, 1805)

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Fundamental Precpet

"No human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian religion...Should our Republic ever forget this fundamental precept of government, this great experiment will then be surely doomed."

~John Jay

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Preservation of Order

"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world, as well as property...Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."

~Thomas Paine

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Patriot's Lot

"The patriot, like the Christian, must learn that to bear revilings and persecutions is a part of his duty; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command."

~Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Voluminous Laws

"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."

~James Madison

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Natural Divisions

"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties:

1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes.

2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests.

In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, liberals and serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, aristocrats and democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last appellation of aristocrats and democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all."

~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee (August 10, 1824)

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Results of Dependence

“Dependence begets subservience, suffocates...virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.”

~Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Ultimate Powers of Society

"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 wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

~Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Unsafe Companions

"A standing military force, with an overgrown executive will not long be safe companions to liberty."

~James Madison

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Tyranny at Home

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny here at home."

~James Madison

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Author of Life

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." ~ Thomas Jefferson; Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Securing Liberty

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." ~Thomas Paine

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A Republic

“A republic, if you can keep it.” ~Benjamin Franklin

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Policing the Government

"The Federal government was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself." ~Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Chains of Restraint

"Let no more be heard, of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." ~Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, September 8, 2013

The Necessity of the Times

"Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost deliberation, fortitude and perseverance." ~Samuel Adams

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Carrying Arms

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” ~Thomas Jefferson; "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776

Sunday, September 1, 2013

A Free Man's Right

"No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." ~Thomas Jefferson, Proposal to Virginia Constitution

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Pious Reflection

"It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it (Constitutional Convention) a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stage of the revolution." ~ James Madison, Federalist 37

Sunday, August 25, 2013

To Preserve Liberty

"Whereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." ~ Richard Henry Lee, Letters from the Federal Farmer (1788)

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Price of Liberty

"Liberty, without virtue, would be no blessing to us." ~Benjamin Rush

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Expectations

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was, and never will be." ~Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Price of Freedom

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." ~Thomas Paine

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Impatience

"There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint." ~ George Mason, Letter to the Committee of Merchants in London (June 6, 1766)

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A Sovereign Body

"Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act." ~James Madison

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Distrust

“All men having power should be distrusted to a certain degree.” ~James Madison

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Essential to Moral Order

"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it." ~ James Madison, Letter to Rev. Frederick Beasley (November 20, 1825)

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Life and Liberty

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." ~Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Price of Liberty

"While the great body of freeholders are acquainted with the duties which they owe to their God, to themselves, and to men, they will remain free. But if ignorance and depravity should prevail, they will inevitably lead to slavery and ruin." ~Samuel Huntington

Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Sum of All

"The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of heaven, let us become a virtuous people. ~Samuel Adams

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Last Refuge

"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty." ~Samuel Adams

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Wickedness Never Was Happiness

"It is not only vain but wicked in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature. . ." ~Thomas Jefferson; 1779

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Making Excuses

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” ~George Washington

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Fervent Supplications

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency." ~George Washington; First Inaugural Address, 1789

Thursday, July 4, 2013

"The real wonder is, that so many difficulties should have been surmounted; and surmounted with a unanimity almost as unprecedented as it must have been unexpected. It is impossible for any man of candor to reflect on this circumstance, without partaking of the astonishment. It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it, a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution." ~ James Madison, Federalist 37

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Defending Liberty

"The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." ~George Washington

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Christian Principles

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind of self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." ~James Madison (attributed)

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Truth

"Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known & seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper & sufficient antagonist to error." ~ Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion (October 1776)

Sunday, June 23, 2013

The Ruins of Liberty

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." ~George Washington

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Cause of All Mankind

"It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own." ~Benjamin Franklin

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Undelegated Powers

"Whenever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." ~Thomas Jefferson: Kentucky Resolutions, 1798.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A Good Crisis...

"Crisis, the old trick of turning every contingency into a resource for accumulating force in the government." ~James Madison

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Danger

"There is a danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with the power to endanger the public liberty." ~John Adams

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Freedom's Pillars

"Freedom of speech is a principle pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins." ~Benjamin Franklin

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Loyalties

"The individual owes the exercise of all his faculties to the service of his country." ~John Quincy Adams; letter to Francis Gray, 1818

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

To Hell

"I would go to hell for my country." ~Thomas Jefferson; upon being appointed commissioner to France, 1785

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Acquit Yourselves Like Men

"Banish unmanly fear, acquit yourselves like men, and with firm confidence trust the event with that Almighty and benevolent Being who hath commanded you to hold fast the liberty with which he has made you free; and who is able as well as willing to support you in performing his orders." ~John Jay; July 22, 1777

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Approbation of My Country

"The approbation of my country is what I wish; and, as far as my abilities and opportunities will permit, I hope I shall endeavor to deserve it. It is the highest reward to a feeling mind; and happy are they, who so conduct themselves to merit it." ~George Washington; letter to Patrick Henry, 1778

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Familial Ties

"It is not difficult to regard men of every nation as members of the same family; but when placed in that point of view, my fellow citizens appear to me as my brethren, and the others as related to me only in the more distant and adventitious degrees." ~John Jay; letter to Gouverneur Morris, 1783

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

A Great Mischief

"A standing army is one of the greatest mischiefs that can possibly happen. ~James Madison; Virginia Convention debates, 1787

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Liberty's Definition

"Liberty is the power to do everything that does not interfere with the rights of others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every individual has no limits save those that assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the same rights." ~Thomas Paine; Plan of a Declaration of Rights, 1792

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Calm of Despotism

"Timid men...prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of Liberty." ~Thomas Jefferson; letter to Philip Mazzei, 1796

Sunday, May 5, 2013

The Purchase of Liberty

"Liberty cannot be purchased by a wish." ~Thomas Paine; letter to the people of France, 1792

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Federal Judiciary

"The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity,ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them." ~Thomas Jefferson; letter to Charles Hammon, 1821

Sunday, April 28, 2013

A Melancholy Law

"It is the melancholy law of human societies to be compelled sometimes to choose a great evil in order to ward off a greater." ~Thomas Jefferson; letter to William Short, 1814

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A Putrid State

"I deplore with you the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed, and the malignity, the vulgarity, &mendacious spirit of those who write for them." ~Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Free Press

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and will never be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free...all is safe." ~Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Wrong is Still Wrong

"It will always happen, when a thing is originally wrong, that amendments do not make it right." ~Thomas Paine; Rights of Man I; 1791

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Excuses

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one." ~George Washington

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

One Vote

"The true and only basis of representative government is equality of rights. Every man has a right to one vote, and no more in the choice of representatives." ~Thomas Paine; Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Equality

"Equal laws protecting equal rights are...the best guarantee of loyalty & love of country." ~James Madison; 1820

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Ignorance

"Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to re-establish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant." ~Thomas Paine; Rights of Man

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Maintaining Liberty

"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

Sunday, March 24, 2013

"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech." ~Benjamin Franklin; Silence Dogood letter, 1722

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Preservation of Liberty

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." -Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, March 17, 2013

First, Our Fellowman

"There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest,honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republication government nor any real liberty; and this public passion must be superior to all private passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures, passions and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections, when they stand in competition with the rights of society." ~John Adams; 1776

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Security of State

"The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state. ~John Adams; Massachusetts Constitution

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Virtue of Patriotism

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families. The Amor Parriae is both a moral and a religious duty. It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but of millions of our fellow creatures, not only of the present but of future generations. This virtue we find constitutes a part of the first characters of history." ~Benjamin Rush; 1773

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Result of Lost Public Virtue

"When public virtue is gone, when the national spirit is fled...the republic is lost in essence, though it my still exist in form." ~John Adams

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Qualities of Republicanism

"As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust; So there are other qualities in human nature, which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. Where the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us, faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another." ~James Madison; Federalist Papers

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Securing Liberty

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them." ~James Madison

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A Recipe for Strength

"Virtue, morality and religion. This is the armour my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study; if we lose these, we are conquered; fallen indeed. So long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger." ~Patrick Henry

Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Model

"No government can continue good, but under the control of the people. Their minds are to be informed by education of what is right and what is wrong; to be encouraged in habits of virtue and to be deferred from those of vice." ~Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

One Life

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." ~Nathan Hale; September 22, 1776

Only a Virtuous People

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

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Human Rights

"Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people. The general government...can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy or any other despotic or oppressive form, so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the people." ~George Washington

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Up and Running...Mostly

I apologize that I've dropped the ball here; we had a death in the family and I just haven't had the gumption to get moving and search for wonderful quotes; I've found a few recently, and I'm going to try to get back up to where I have this on auto-pilot again. Thanks for sticking with us. Jeannetta